In the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi rebukes God's people for falling into religious indifference and a state of spiritual deadness. Oh, they were still "worshiping" God, but God was not pleased and did not accept it. Malachi wrote to admonish them toward repentance. In Malachi 1:1-13 we can see what the heart of the problem was.

They had changed God's rules of worship. God had given a standard for their worship procedures, but they decided to change it. Instead of the best, they were now offering the blind, stolen, lame and sick animals.(v. 8,13).

Their hearts were no longer in their worship. In fact, worship had become dreary to them and they were bored by it. "Oh what weariness," they complained (v. 13).

They had lost all seriousness in their worship. Their attitudes were horrible and deplorable. In fact, it got so bad that they "sneered" at the thought of worshiping God (v. 13).

They had gotten lazy with their worship. It got to the point where they were lighting useless fires (v. 10). God had a certain way He desired to be worshiped, and they were making excuses so they did not have to labor so had at it (v. 11-12).

I fear that we fall into periods of spiritual deadness ourselves from time to time when our worship becomes heartless and mundane. Oh, we may still be here going through the motions, but God may not be accepting it.

How much time do you spend preparing yourself for worship? How much emotion do you express in worship?

Looking at the opposite of what God rejected in Malachi's day, we can see that to be accepted, our worship must be specific, spirited, sincere, service-oriented, and even sacrificial. Selected