The quality you sow is the quality you reap
The partnership letter for March 2016
Greetings to all my precious partners in Christ. This month I would like to share with you along the lines of “The quality you sow is the quality you reap.”
“And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts. 13 You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the Lord of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the Lord.”
In the verse above, Malachi had been scrutinizing the offerings that the people were bringing to God. This happened several times in Scripture. Even Jesus investigated what people were giving at the temple, and He brought teaching from what He observed.
In Acts 5, Peter asked the people about the offerings they were bringing. One couple was attempting to look as though they were giving 100 percent, but actually they were not. They had conspired to bring a smaller percentage of their money, but to tell the apostle they were bringing everything. When Peter asked them if they had given everything, they tried to deceive the man of God. The Holy Spirit gave Peter insight into the deception, telling him that the couple had lied to God, and both fell down dead before the Lord.
Malachi observed that some of the people were bringing sick, blind, lame, or stolen animals for their offering. Some had vowed they would bring a certain animal, but when it came time to fulfill the vow, they decided not to bring the healthy beast, but rather some sick cow. They bring the old cow down to the temple, slip the priest a few hundred denari, and offer up this sick animal as an offering to God, thinking they can pull a fast one. However, the prophet sees what’s going on, and he rebukes the people and the priests for their less-than-spotless offering.
It is a travesty to give God a shabby offering. Sometimes, people think that God should be happy if they give Him anything at all. But that is not the case. Our offering is just that – an offering. There is no guarantee that God will accept our offering. If He accepts it, then we will receive blessing upon our lives; if not, we won’t. There is a way to ensure that our offerings are acceptable and actually pleasing Him: by giving exactly what He calls us to give.
In the book of Malachi, the worshippers were bringing offering to God that were unacceptable. They were offering things they would rather get rid of, or things they no longer needed. There was no cost to the giver. These days, people bring things to the church that no longer work to see if the church has any use for them.
They bring an old car they are going to dump, thinking there may be someone at church who can use it, or an old item or an outdated computer with parts that don’t function any more. We need to have a higher view of God. Give those old beat – up, trach-bound things to the devil! Let him have the junk! The church is not the local garbage heap. It is a place where we give the best offerings to God, things of unblemished quality that reflect His glory.
Our offerings should not be found sick, lying in the bottom of the offering bag in need of respirator and a blood transfusion. They need to be healthy, vigorous offerings that can accomplish something for His kingdom. Our offerings must have vision, knowing that what we are giving is going to do something great for God.
We need to be able to give an offering that stands tall and walks, not something that limps and shuffles along. Sadly, that is more often how the church had functioned – limping along because of weak offerings. When we sow a seed of quality we reap the best.
We Love You very Much, Dr. Roshan and Pastor Zubeda Sing.