神并非心胸狭隘，衪并不期望我们能厚厚回报衪为我们所作的一切，然而，神也不应该被藐视。今天这段经文的语气提醒我们，神是不会容忍我们不尊敬衪的；如果我们不愿意把我们最好的献给衪，那么，我们也不能期望衪会悦纳我们的努力了。
基督教信仰有时会令人大惑不解。我们的神不甚看重我们所作的，乃看重我们背后的动机。神看透我们的内心，有些奉献虽微不足道，若是出自爱的，衪必然悦纳。相反，那缺乏诚意，或是出于无奈或恐惧的奉献，即使丰厚，衪不会接受。
这并不是说，怀着正确动机的人，永远不会做出没有爱心的事或献上不合宜的礼物，神也需要更正我们以为是最正确的动机。然而，神会温柔地更正这些人的心，令受教的人容易接受。
相反来说，我们的心若不在正轨上，我们便很难接受神的更正的了。这颗脱了轨的心，最终需要决定选择神、还是选择那些与神竞争的事物，不论哪一方战败，都会带给我们伤痛。然而，最好的做法，就是决定除掉我们心里其他的缠累，而不是拒绝神，以致永远被衪拒绝。
亲爱的父，祢爱我们，甚至不惜把祢至爱的儿子耶稣赐给我们；可是，除了祢以外，我们的心也往往被其他事物侵占了。求祢帮助我们单单忠心于祢。奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。
玛拉基书 1:8-9
8你们将瞎眼的献为祭物，这不为恶吗？将瘸腿的、有病的献上，这不为恶吗？你献给你的省长，他岂喜悦你，岂能看你的情面吗？这是万军之耶和华说的。"'Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?' says the LORD Almighty." — Malachi 1:9
God is not petty. He does not expect that we will ever come close to repaying him for what he has done for us. Yet God is not to be mocked either. The tone of today's verses reminds us that God will not tolerate our poor treatment of him. If we are not willing to give him our best, we cannot expect him to accept our efforts.
Christianity can sometimes seem confusing. Our God is not concerned so much with what we do but why we do it. God looks deep into our hearts. He honors the smallest gift that was lovingly given. But he rejects the largest gifts that were given half-heartedly or out of a sense of obligation or fear.
This doesn't mean that people with even the best intentions never do unkind things or offer bad gifts. God needs to correct even our best intentions. But the correction he gives to a right heart is gentle and much easier to receive.
In contrast, when our heart is in the wrong place, correction comes with greater difficulty. The misguided heart will eventually have to choose between God and whatever else competes with him. There will be heartache over whichever side loses. But it's far better that we eventually sacrifice the other attachments of our heart than that we reject God and later be rejected by him forever.
Dear Father, in your love you did not spare your greatest treasure for us—your Son, Jesus. Yet our hearts are often divided between you and other things. Help us to be devoted to you alone. Amen.
诵读: 楚云
片头: 张妙阳
