Giving God the leftovers

You offer defiled food on My altar, But say, 'In what way have we defiled You?' By saying, 'The table of the LORD is contemptible.' 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 favourably?" Says the LORD of hosts. – Malachi 1v7-8

Malachi wrote just before the 400 silent years. He wrote to a nation in its final years to God’s people who had forgotten their God. The whole books is a litany of complaints against the people who had left God out of their lives and were too think to understand what they had done.

God made several statements to which the people replied with questions. God then answered their questions. The passage here is one of those exchanges. God said ‘You offer defiled food on my altar.’ ‘How have we done that?’ the people replied. Honestly, they knew what they had done – they had just wandered so far from God that they didn’t even think about their actions.

God replied – ‘You offer the stuff you would not even feed your human governor. You bring the lame and weak and sick.’ In other words these people were bringing God second best. They gave God the leftovers.

Surely, God’s people today would not give God the leftovers, would they? Or would we? Who gets the best of our efforts? Who gets the best of our time? Who gets the best of our resources?

Are we happy enough to give God what is left over after taking care of us? Are we happy enough to please man before we worry about pleasing God? Do we ‘defile the Lord’s table’ by giving God the leftovers?