Today’s scripture: Malachi 3:16-18 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Julie Benson):
He’s making a list and checking it twice,
Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice…
We’re already hearing Christmas songs in the stores and this passage reminds me of that Christmas classic, but we’re not singing about a jolly old fat guy in a red suit here. This is the “Big G” who has a much more eternal — and potentially damning — list. So why not use this passage to develop a good self-help list?!
Like a sweet Christmas carol, I linger on the text: scroll of remembrance. I’m sure it’s safe to assume that if God has any list of people worth remembering, then I must be on it. After all, the scripture says this list includes those who fear God. I fear fire and brimstone, wrath, judgment, and an eternity absent from my Creator.
This list also includes those who honor God. Let’s see, I pray and worship and read my Bible and sing pretty songs about Jesus just about everyday.
Finally, the chapter ends not with just a flimsy contrast of the terms righteous and wicked, but specifically defines those terms as those who serve God and those who do not. Well, then I’ve got it made! I work 70 hours a week in my job, serve in five church ministries, give a ride to church to three people across town, and write more Be Still devotionals than anyone else!
Under this formula, then, I think I’ve made a fair assessment that I will make it on the “nice” list!
We have become a society bursting at the seams with self-help books, finding three-easy-step formulas for everything from losing weight to getting a date, from get-rich schemes to finding the key to happiness. It’s only natural then, that we would read the Bible the same way.
I think it’s too easy to reduce the qualifications for pleasing God into a concise formula. This gives us a sense of control in how to respond to God so we can say the right words and jump through the right hoops. In his book Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller declares, “This method of interaction seems odd to me, because if I want to hang out with my friend Tuck, I don’t stomp my foot three times, turn around, and say his name over and over like a mantra, lighting candles, and getting myself in a certain mood. I just call him.”
God wants the same from us: the authentic you in an authentic relationship. The self-help formulas we conjure up don’t quite measure up. Instead, we can approach the text as an invitation to relationship. Fear God because God is mighty and mysterious. Honor God because of the great sacrifice that was made for you through Jesus Christ and for being showered with grace, love, and abundance. Serve God as a natural response to the overflowing joy and thankfulness in your heart.
Thought for the day: Don’t reduce God to a simple formula. Engage in a true, meaningful relationship today.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.