Read: Malachi 1:6-14
When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? (v. 8)

A cheapskate, according to the dictionary, is a person who is “stingy or miserly” or “who tries to avoid paying a fair share of costs or expenses.” In most cases, it is inconsequential to us. Who cares? We shrug our shoulders and say something like, “Yeah, well, that’s just the way so-and-so is. He’s a cheapskate.”

But when it comes to giving, cheapskates show their true colors. Giving shows how much you really value another person. If you give someone a cheap present for Christmas or their birthday, it won’t take them long to see how much you value them.

The priests in Malachi’s time were cheapskates when it came to their offerings to God. Rather than giving the best animals as sacrifices to God, they gave animals that were diseased or crippled or blind—in other words, discards and rejects. Doing so was dishonoring to God. And God was not pleased.

What kind of offerings do you give to God? An old hymn thus titled puts it this way: “Give of your best to the Master.” Not your leftovers. Not the small change that happens to be in your wallet. But your best!

Prayer:
Lord, help me to give you my best. Amen.

Author: John Koedyker