Robber or Worshipper?

Malachi 3:8-9 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings.”

Are you a thief?

Now, I know most of the time we see this verse and we automatically think “Money”, but I want us to think about this in another light: our worship.

Are we robbing the Lord? Meaning, when we are at church or in prayer, are our minds solely focused on the Lord? Are we giving Him all that He deserves?

A couple of weeks ago, I was tempted to be found guilty- no one could indict me or charge me with the crime- but I knew in my heart that I was guilty of not giving my absolute best to the Lord while at church. *gasp* (I’m just like you) Life was running me ragged- Finals, new baby, running and going and going some more- by the time Sunday rolled around- I was exhausted and mentally just not there. But as I have said in these newsletters time and time again- I had to make a choice: you have to make the choice daily to give the Lord your best.

I was watching a movie the other day about the days when Kings/Queens ruled over people and I noticed that before the people’s requests could be heard and taken care of; they had to present the King with a gift. Just like that king, the Lord expects us to come with a gift before petitioning Him for our needs.


Exodus 23:15"No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

When the servants came before the King, they gave their absolute best, EVEN IF, it wasn’t that much of grandiose- they still gave their absolute best- Are we doing the same when we come before the Lord on Sundays and Wednesdays?

So before we can become “bodly before the throne of grace”, we need to remember to honor the Lord not just with the first fruits of our labor (money) but with our worship.

Meaning that we don’t come into the sanctuary at 10:43 on Sunday mornings and stand there looking at all the pretty people on stage. OR we come in on Wednesday nights and instead of worshipping the Lord and petitioning Him for our needs, we stand in the back and “talk about prayer requests”.

When we do those types of things, we are guilty of stealing from the Lord. We become robbers. And I know that is one thing I don’t want to be guilty of!

When we bring our gift (our praise/worship) before the Lord, it opens up that doorway for him to work on our behalf and here our petitions and meet our needs. It gets us in the right mindset to hear from the Lord and to be obedient.

Psalms 96:8-9 “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.”

Notice how Scripture states “bring an offering” and “Worship the Lord” in close proximity- They are one in the same.

There is a certain person in the Word that new this and applied it to her life and was radically changed: Who was it?

-Grab your Bible-

Look Up Luke 7:36-50

Making sure our offering is the highest quality, the best that we can give, our all is utmost important and like this woman- it can have dramatic affects on our life’s course/history.

So, are you a robber? or a Worshipper?