“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? says the Lord of hosts.” – Malachi 1:8

Christian, God is asking you a profoundly important question!!! You might not realize it since we thankfully don’t have to offer animals as sacrifices. God gave Jesus as our once-for-all sacrifice of blood to atone for our sins and we praise Him for that. Nonetheless, this question is vitally relevant to your spiritual life and growth! Why? Because we’re commanded to make sacrifices as well. Though these sacrifices won’t save us, they reflect the glorious reality that we have been saved by God’s grace. Therefore, we’re commanded to offer a continuous sacrifice of praise to God (Hebrews 13:5). We’re also commanded to offer up our entire lives to God as sacrifices, living lives of holiness and devotion to the Lord (Romans 12:1). If we aren’t doing that – if we’re just giving God scraps of our time, treasure, talent, and energy, if we’re offering Him leftovers, garbage time, halfhearted and sleepy worship, and lives that aren’t particularly concerned with holiness, then we’re like those Israelites who were offering up blind, lame, and sick animals instead of giving God the very best. Such “sacrifices” are evil!

December is an excellent time of year to assess the patterns of your life. Have you been giving God at least the same amount of time, energy, creativity, and devotion that would please your boss, satisfy your teacher or professor, or support your favorite political leader? You should be giving more! If you aren’t giving God your absolute best, your utmost for His highest, it’s time to reflect on the disobedience of that and commit your whole life – heart, soul, mind, and strength to loving, worshiping, praising, and serving God. May your sacrifice to Him be pleasing and worthy of the God Who has redeemed you, adopted you, embraced you, indwelt you, and empowered you!

“And they sang a new song, saying,
‘Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.’”
– Revelation 5:9-10

As we near the celebration of Christmas and remember the birth of Jesus, the coming of God the Son in the flesh, we should constantly remind ourselves that Jesus didn’t remain a cuddly baby in a food trough. Jesus grew up to live a life without sin, to resist every temptation thrown at Him by Satan, to work miracles, to teach with authority, and to die on a cross and rise from death. Jesus is the Lamb Who was slain about Whom the 24 elders sing in these verses.

Through His sacrificial death and physical resurrection, Jesus ransomed a new family of people for God, setting men and women, boys and girls free from slavery to sin and death through the shedding of His innocent blood on the cross. Through faith in Jesus, God is graciously drawing people to Himself from every nation, language, ethnic group, and tribe. Jesus has ransomed a new people for God from every race, nationality, and background, all of whom are made gloriously new: washed clean, granted citizenship in God’s kingdom, raised to serve as priests to God, and prepared to reign victoriously over the earth when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead.

Advent isn’t just about the run-up to Christmas. It’s a season to anticipate the glorious return of Jesus and to prepare our hearts for that as well, because He is coming and He is worthy!

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
– Revelation 4:11

It’s vitally important for the people of God to remember that God is worthy of all praise and honor simply for Who He is! We shouldn’t praise God simply on the basis of what He does for us (though for those things we certainly should give thanks and praise how they reveal God’s nature). We shouldn’t make our praise transactional and dependent on “What have You done for me lately?” God is absolutely worthy of praise at all times, even when things are going completely terribly in the world and in our lives!

As followers of Jesus, we should praise God because He is the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe. We should praise God because He is all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, and ever-present. We should praise God because He is just, loving, righteous, kind, holy, merciful, pure, gracious, patient, and so much more! We should praise God because He is very near to all His people while also being infinitely above and beyond us in His thoughts and ways. We should praise God because He is love, which means that He sent His eternal Son Jesus into the world to suffer and die to redeem and reconcile fallen mankind to Him. We should praise God because He gives generously to all without reproach, pouring out His Spirit upon all believers. We should praise God because He is sovereign and supreme, which means one day He will wipe away all evil and make His dwelling place with His people.

Worthy are you, our Lord and God!

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.’” – Revelation 2:1

It’s Jesus Who holds the stars (representing angels or messengers associated with particular churches) and walks among the golden lampstands representing the churches themselves. This isn’t just cool imagery – there are precious truths conveyed through this vivid image of Lord Jesus interacting with local churches. What can we learn from this angelic description of Almighty Jesus?

First, the local church matters a great deal to Jesus. Jesus doesn’t just love the church in general, He’s intimately involved with, concerned for, and connected to individual local churches. There are many who consider themselves Christians yet have contempt for local churches. That disobeys the clear example of Jesus Who holds the churches in His hand and walks among them. Jesus loves the local church and Christians need to find a local church to love.

Second, local churches belong to Jesus. He is the head of the church and the head of each church. We may consider a church to be “my church” in the sense that we identify with a particular body of believers to which we are connected. We must never consider a church to be “my church” in terms of owning or controlling it. The church belongs to Jesus. Any church that doesn’t is a runaway bride!

Third, because Jesus loves and owns the local church, He’s intimately aware of what’s going on in each of His churches. That’s amply demonstrated throughout Revelation 2 and 3. Jesus knows the good, the bad, and the ugly in each of His churches. He commends the good, desires the bad to change, and laments and will punish the ugly. We need to know and care about these things as well. We must not be blind to the faults of the local church, but must relentlessly seek to make her worthy of her Master.

Fourth, because Jesus is so intimately involved with churches that belong to Him, we must not panic about the challenges we face in any time or place. There are certainly serious issues that require serious responses in church life. Nonetheless, it’s Jesus who snuffs out churches, not the foolishness or malice of people. It’s unfaithfulness that will ultimately kill a church, not lack of resources. As the church of Jesus Christ, we should face every challenge with prayer and confidence in our Lord, working diligently to apply the Gospel to heal and transform the bad into the good and the ugly into something beautiful in Christ.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” – Revelation 1:5b-6

What a beautiful list of some of the wonderful things Jesus has done for all who believe in Him! Truly He is worthy of all praise! In His great kindness…

Jesus loves us. He loves us! Even though we’re pretty unlovable at times. Even though our sins nailed Him to a cross. Even though we often reject His call to deny ourselves and follow Him. Even though we often despise the command to become like Him. He loves us. He loved us unto death. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…

Jesus has freed us from our sins by His blood. Though He never sinned even once, Jesus freely shed His blood for us on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Through His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus not only paid for our sins, He set us free from sin’s power over our lives. In Christ, we’re set free to not sin. In Christ, we’re set free from sin’s awful and inevitable power of death.

Jesus has made us a kingdom. Jesus came to earth to usher in God’s Kingdom. This is a kingdom based not on earthly birthplace, but upon being born again through faith in Jesus. Through Christ, God is drawing to Himself a kingdom of people from every nation, ethnicity, tribe, and tongue. When we believe in Jesus, we’re transferred from the domain of darkness to Christ’s holy kingdom of light. We are citizens of God’s Kingdom!

Jesus has made us priests to God. Every believer in Jesus is a priest. Every believer can come before the God of Creation with a sacrifice of prayer. Every believer can intercede for themselves and others before God. Every believer is made holy and set apart for service to God. Every believer. Thank you Jesus! To you be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen!