Polluted Sacrifice

This morning, I read this scripture. Apparently there was a group of people who thought it was okay to give God contaminated food!

What?! Giving God moldy bread?!


Working at a food place it's stressed that we keep our hands clean. If money is touched, a phone or your hair, one must be sure to use the sink before continuing to serve food. It's common courtesy to present someone with clean food.

Malachi 1:7
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.

They disgraced and dishonored God by handing him that shifty offering. When I read that I remembered what Paul said about presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice unto God. It got me thinking. How pure and untainted has my self sacrifice been to God? Have I truly and wholly given him a clean sacrifice? Or have I acted like those in Malachi who gave God old bread?

Romans 12:1 

 Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about God's compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him. This kind of worship is appropriate for you.

I'm going to make a point not to be like those people in Malachi and offer God what he deserves: a true sacrifice.

Bird Nests and Normality

I took a walk the other day and spotted a bird's nest, fallen, on the sidewalk. Quickly, I pulled out my phone to take a picture. Before I snapped the shot I thought, “Maybe I should put it back in a tree. It looks out of place on the ground; the picture won’t make sense.” Then I questioned whether or not a bird would use it again if I touched it. So I left it there. A bird's nest on the ground and I took a picture.

Sometimes when things are out of place the first thing we want to do is reposition it, fix it, and alter it, so that it meets our standards. If something doesn’t meet our idea of “normal” we have this longing to change it. A bird’s nest should be in a tree. It just makes sense. Yet, there are certain scenarios that require a process to take place before they arrive to a state of normality and tampering with the natural progression of change could be a hindrance instead of a help.

After some online research I learned that if I had touched that nest it would become useless to the bird population.  Leaving the nest on the ground allows other birds to use bits and parts to make their own creations. I revisited the sidewalk yesterday. I didn’t see the nest on the ground. Hopefully, it was reused and is now part of other nests.