Faith without works is dead. And works without faith is an abomination says Yahweh of hosts through the prophet Malachi. To His glory and by His grace, I recently completed seven expositions through this heart-searching prophet:
His tenacious directness condemned, convicted, and consoled as my sight was lifted from earth-bound myopia to the eternal expanse of God’s glory. God has kindly preserved Malachi in the canon of His Word, so that His people might neither forget Him nor His glorious purposes in the banality of perfunctory religion. Malachi’s prophesy calls-out to the Church of Christ,"coram Deo!".
Baldwin summarized Malachi in this way:
Malachi’s remarkable ethical thrust has lost none of its cutting edge through the passing of time. His teaching, both negative and positive, strikes at the heart of nominal, easy-going Christianity as it did at that of Judaism (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 218).Malachi was blood-earnest against the active apathy of his day and it is our prayer that Yahweh of hosts, for Whom he prophesied, may cause His Church to simmer with the same blood-earnestness today.
Of all the moral wrongs and failings in the world and in my own life I am struck by my own disregard for the glory of God's name.
ReplyDeleteThat God's glory is ever far from my thoughts is a reminder of my great sin and the mercy of our great saviour. Thanks for the pounding it home.