Giving God less than best

“And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.” - Malachi 1v8-9

At the end of the Old Testament God laid out His “bill of particulars” against Israel. This little book summarises all that had gone wrong.

One major problem was their sacrifices. They were sacrificing things to God that they knew the government would not have accepted in taxation. The attitude was, “Well, since no one else will take it we will give it to God.”

We can look back and think about how wicked it was to give God second best. Or, we can see it there is something there for us to learn. How do we do when it comes to giving to God? Does God have the very best of our time, our possessions, and our efforts? Are we ever giving God what man would not accept?