Malachi 3:7 Devotional Scripture - A Rich Relationship With God

From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes

and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,

says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?”  

Malachi 3:7

 

God’s respond to their question by saying, “Quit cheating me out of the tithes and offerings that are due to me” (Malachi 3:8b).  It is interesting that God chose to connect their returning to Him to their giving. The reason why He did that is because God knows that our heart is connected to our checkbook.  All throughout the book of Malachi, God is showing His people that their actions reveal their true heart towards Him and their lack of giving was no exception.

 In Luke 12:15, Jesus warns us to guard ourselves against every kind of greed because life is not measured by our possessions.  He knows that if we have the mindset, “Lord, if I only had a little bit more than I would be satisfied” we are treading on dangerous ground.

 

Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth

but not have a rich relationship with God.

 Luke 12:21

 

God is all about relationships. Your relationship with God and others is more important and more valuable than all of the possessions you could possibly store up for yourself.  Greed is something that will never be satisfied. It will continue to drive you harder, harder, until it destroys those things that are important.

Everything we have belongs to God, and when we give to Him, we are only giving Him what is already His.  He promises to meet all our needs and He wants us to trust Him in that. In Malachi 3:10,  God promises  that if we give to Him what is rightfully His, He will "open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."  He said, “Test me on this and see if I won’t do this for you.”