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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of
God. People should go to them to learn My will, because they are the messengers
of the Lord Almighty.”
Malachi 2:7
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
As we look at the final book of the Bible, the Book of
Malachi, we can’t lose sight that it, as well as most of the other books at the
end of the Old Testament are dedicated to prophets, men chosen by God to serve
as His messengers.
We know the way it worked for the most part. The Lord
would directly connect to His selected spokespeople and relay on words the
prophet was to share with the people, whether they liked those words or not,
whether they chose to listen or ignore.
Well, as we look at one single verse within the second
chapter of Malachi, we’re reminded of a couple of one very important thing and
provided qualities the Lord expects to see in His messengers. Look again at
this verse here:
“It is the duty of
priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn My
will, because they are the messengers of the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 2:7
Note here that the Lord is making it clear that others
may be used as His messengers, that it isn’t solely a duty only extended to
prophets. In the case of our verse for today, we see that the priests in
Malachi’s day were also viewed as being “the messengers of the Lord Almighty”.
Today, there are any number of people who serve in different
roles, that end up serving as the Lord’s messengers. Those ordained to pastor
the Lord’s people are easily and readily identified as God’s messengers but if
you go deeper into a church, you will find any number of other people,
including elders or deacons and Sunday School or small group teachers among
others who are regularly sharing words from the Lord with others. Go outside
the church and you’ll find Christian believers in any number of settings, in
company with any number of audiences who may receive a timely word from the
Lord to share through their knowledge of the scriptures, the movement of the
Holy Spirit, or both. I know I give thanks daily that the Lord uses me through
the gifts He has provided to serve as His messenger through The Christian Walk
ministry.
Okay, so we have established that any believer might be
called upon by the Lord to be His messenger so one’s vocation isn’t really a determinant.
Given this, we are led to wonder whether or not there are any specific
qualities the Lord wants a person to have to become His spokesperson and going
back to our scripture verse, we find several qualifications that God is looking
for:
1. He wants people willing to teach.
“It is the duty of
priests to teach…”
Note this doesn’t mean you need to possess a college
degree in education or anything. We all find ourselves in places where we get
to teach others at one time or another in life. If you get to be a parent, just
think for a moment about how much time you invest in teaching your children as
they grow up!
No, the Lord here wants His messengers willing to
instruct others which becomes easy when the messenger simply has to speak the
words of instruction given to Him by the Lord Himself. In other words, the
guidance you provide others is coming from the Lord, not from you. All you need
to do is relay it to those He calls you to share with. You are simply an
obedient mouthpiece for the Lord God Almighty, privileged to be used by Him in
a special way to fulfill His desired purposes.
2. He wants people to tell the truth in their teaching.
“It is the duty of
priests to teach the true knowledge of God.”
Remember that one of the big issues in Old Testament
times (and frankly today in many areas as well) was that there were a lot of
false prophets running around and delivering messages that were not from the
Lord, although they tried to convince others they were speaking on His behalf.
We know this extended to the priests as well, evident by the words of anger
spoken by the Lord toward them elsewhere in this book, words of anger that
placed a spotlight on how the priests were causing the Israelites to stumble
into sin through their counterfeit messages.
This is why there was such an emphasis placed on the
matter of truthful teaching by God’s messengers, specifically the priests in
this case.
So how does one ensure they are always speaking the
truth?
Go back to the first qualification just covered. For a
true messenger of the Lord will not rely on their own words but rather the
words from the Lord Himself, whether from the scriptures or communicated spontaneously
through the Holy Spirit. Do this when the Lord calls on you and you will never
go astray.
3. He wants people to convey His will in their teaching.
“People should go
to them to learn My will, because they are the messengers of the Lord Almighty.”
When a person opens themselves to be used by God as a
messenger, then the words they speak will be the Lord’s words and those words
will always reveal His will for His people. This is why people went to the
prophets and priests in Malachi’s day, because they knew they would be able to
discover the very will of the Lord Almighty through His messengers. It’s also
what made the false messengers so dangerous because they revealed purposes to
the people that were not of God at all.
In sum, all believers should be prepared to be messengers
if the Lord calls. No one should think that they won’t be used in this capacity
in their service to God. With this, we need to always work to make sure we’re ready,
to make sure that we hone the qualities the Lord looks for in His spokespeople.
We need to be ready to teach.
Once called upon to teach, we need to teach the truth.
And when we teach the truth, then we will be teaching the
very will of the Lord Almighty to those He sends us to address.
Given all this, do an assessment and ask yourself:
How prepared and qualified am I to be a messenger of the
Lord?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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