Malachi 2:1-2 (ESV)

[1] “And now, O priests, this command is for you. [2] If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

The problem Malachi is addressing is not one of disobedience so much as empty obedience. The priests are not performing their duties from the heart. Worship has just become a job. They are going through the motions without true worship. The result is that blessings have become just words. Sacrifices have become compromised. Inferior animals are being presented because it is more convenient for the priests. “But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD” (Mal 1:13). Worship became about them, not about God.

We read this and say, “Shame on those priests!” But then, we do the same thing. Our worship becomes about us. It is judged by how much we were moved emotionally, or how we felt during the music time, or whether we felt guilty during the sermon. But none of that is worship. That is all about us. It is about how we feel. Worship is about God. Worship is to bow the knee before him no matter how we feel. Worship is to listen for him, hear him, and yield no matter who he uses to give the message or how painful it is to receive.

In the day of making sure that everyone is comfortable and no one is offended, we have moved away from worship of the Almighty to worship of our own experience. But God chastised the priests in Malachi for that very thing. He said that he would turn their blessings into curses. Their homes, families, and interpersonal relationships reflected their lack of true worship. They not only failed to honor God, but they failed to honor their own covenants and responsibilities. When we fail to honor God, we fail to honor people as well. As a result, God said that he would make them “despised and abased” before the people (Mal 2:9).

It would do us well to ask ourselves occasionally how we are doing. Is our worship true worship, or are we only going through the motions? Is our worship honoring to God, or is it only about how it makes us feel? Have we been compromising in our obedience because it is more convenient for us? God desires worship from the heart. Maybe that is why the Psalmist cried out, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” (Ps 139 :23). That should be the cry of our hearts every time we bow our heads before him, for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). This Sunday, this Christmas let us worship from the heart.