Malachi 1:10 (ESV)
Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you
might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the
LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.
It grieves me when I see a church that has closed. But when I read this passage of Scripture it makes me wonder if God wouldn’t prefer some churches to close. In Malachi’s day the temple had been rebuilt. Offerings had restarted. But they were offerings of which God took no pleasure. When the temple was rebuilt and dedicated to God, people wept with both sorrow and joy. But now God is weeping for the place dedicated to him was not honoring him. Similarly, there are churches today that sing, preach, and pray in the name of our Lord, yet what they preach and what they practice grieves the heart of God. My prayer and my heart’s desire is that they would return to God and his Word, but I can’t help but wonder if God isn’t saying, “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors.”
This should grieve us. This should move us to prayer. But this also warn us to keep our teaching and our lives aligned with God’s Word. It is so easy to move from being Biblical to twisting Scripture. May that never be!
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