A Matter of Perspective

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Perspective matters. Malachi understood this. God loved His people, yet they questioned His love and saw their own actions much differently than God did. Where they saw sacrifice and worship, God saw the offense of their sins. Their lack of perspective got so bad that God told them to try offering the sacrifices they were presenting Him to their governor in lieu of their taxes and see the truth of the situation. There was no fear or reverence of God because they had slid into a pattern that wasn't even visible to most of them. This is common to us all. We take a small step off the path of righteousness, justify it IF we even recognize that there's a problem, and soon we have veered off the path to a degree that requires God's discipline to make the correction because we can no longer see the truth of our situation. It doesn't always feel like God loves me when I encounter hard things or trying times, but in my heart I know that all of mankind (even God's children) encounter trouble. My perspective has to remain firmly fixed on Him and the truth of the situation for me to be able to walk in a way that pleases Him. Otherwise, I don't recognize His love even when it should be obvious to me, and I don't learn the right lessons. Matthew Henry said this is his commentary on Malachi: "If we love him, it is because he has first loved us; yet we all are prone to undervalue the mercies of God, and to excuse our own offences." We break God's heart when we fail to recognize His love for us, and when we fail to recognize His love for us, we do stupid, sinful things that require correction, which normally involves pain. Hmmm...God's way or my my way? Not much to think about there! Perspective matters!

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