The date was around 430 BC. The place is Jerusalem. the account is told in the book of Malachi. Some years before, the people had returned from exile in Babylon and found the city in ruins. The people of Israel began to rebuild the temple and to rebuild the city walls. However, as the people began to settle into their lives, they forgot the lessons of exile and they began to put their own priorities in front of God’s priorities. The people began to neglect the proper worship of God – even the priests were guilty. Their reasons for doing so were problems similar to our own reasons for not striving for excellence. The reasons we do not strive for excellence generally fall into three categories:
1) Expedience – doing things cheap and easy. It was easier and cheaper for Israel to offer a defective animal than a more excellent one. Things haven’t changed much. We trust try to “get by” in life, even as Christians. We think that leftovers are good enough for God. We attempt to give God what is left over rather than what comes first. Then we wonder why God doesn’t bless our lives.
2) We simply possess a bad attitude toward what we “have” to give or do. We really just don’t care about what we offer and how we offer it. That was Cain’s problem in Genesis 4. God blessed Abel’s sacrifice because he gave out of the best he had, Cain seems to have just grabbed whatever was convenient. His desire was not to honor God but to get the offering over with and move on to something “more important.
3) We struggle with excellence, because it is the popular thing to do. Everyone else is giving what they want, not what they should, therefore, I can do the same thing. The problem here is that I am not accountable to God for your actions, I am responsible for my actions.
You see my friends, our service reveals our attitude toward God (Colossians 3:1), and was meant to be costly.. We often forget that God has given us far more than we deserve, and has never cut corners or taken the short cut. The cost of excellence is that it takes hard work, more time, is evidenced in the details, thakes Daily diligence, and is our duty as stewards. Our God is worthy of our best efforts.