On Friday March 28, 1947, at 6:55 A.M., Bronx bus driver William Cimillo got into his bus to start his daily route. But, fed up with New York traffic, Cimillo decided he'd had enough. Instead of taking his daily route, he headed south, going nowhere in particular. He stopped in New Jersey for a bite to eat, and parked in front of the White House and took a look around D.C.
Three days later, he was in Hollywood, Florida, where he stopped for a nighttime swim. Cimillo was totally free… but strapped for cash. He telegrammed his boss in New York, asking for $50. That's when the cops showed up. Two New York detectives and a mechanic were sent to fetch the runaway driver and his bright red bus, but according to Cimillo, the mechanic couldn't drive the bus, so they had Cimillo drive them back to New York. When they arrived, William Cimillo discovered he'd become a legend. People across the country sent him fan mail, newspapers portrayed him as a working-class hero, and his bus-driving buddies raised enough cash to cover his legal expenses.
As a result, the Surface Transportation System, in order not to look bad, decided not to prosecute. In fact, they gave Cimillo his job back, and he drove that bus for 28 more years until he died in 1975. It seems that those three crazy days in 1947 were more than enough adventure for William Cimillo. Asked why he did it, the bus driver would explain: “I just wanted to get away from everything. This New York traffic gets you. It's like driving in a squirrel cage” (Nolan Moore, “William Cimillo, The Runaway Bus Driver,” Knowledge Nuts, 4-14-15; www.PreachingToday.com).
Sometimes, life just gets to you, doesn’t it? You get weary of the daily grind, and even your love for the Lord grows cold. So, what do you do in those times? What do you do when the enthusiasm wanes and the shine of your commitment wears off?
That was the problem with the ancient Jews 400 years before Christ. 100 years earlier, they had returned from their exile in Babylon. Those were exciting times as they worked together to rebuild the temple, their homes, and their city. But a hundred years later, life became a dull, boring routine. Even their worship in the new temple grew stale, and their spiritual disciplines had devolved into a daily grind.
That’s when God sent them the last of His prophets, the prophet Malachi. God gave him six messages, designed to shake His people out of their doldrums. So, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to the last book in the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, which literally means “My messenger.” For Malachi was God’s messenger, with a message about what to do when the shine wears off your life, your commitment to God, and even your marriage. Please, turn with me to the book of Malachi, chapter 1, starting at verse 1.
Malachi 1:1-5 The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’ ” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!” (ESV)
The Jews were questioning God’s love for them, but He responds, “Just look at your neighbors, the Edomites, Esau’s descendants. Compared to them, you’re doing really well.” That’s what God means when He says, “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” He is not talking about the individual brothers. He is talking about the nations that came from them. 100 years after the Jews returned from their Babylonian captivity, Jacob’s nation is thriving while Esau’s nation lies desolate.
Yet, in the dull routines of their lives, the Jews forgot how much God really loved them. So God reminds them of His love, and He reminds you of His love, as well. Now, that’s where you start when the shine wears off your life and your commitment to Him. The first thing you do is…
REMEMBER GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU.
Bring to mind the depths of His compassion for you. Realize how much He has demonstrated His affection for you.
For over 50 years, the rock icon Bruce Springsteen has turned his struggle into songs, his unrest into performance. In his 2016 memoir, Springsteen tries to overcome the issues he had with his father. One of the book's most moving passages occurs a few days before the 1990 birth of Springsteen's first child, his son Evan. His father Doug Springsteen embarked on an impulsive, impromptu road trip, driving 400 miles south to Bruce's house in Los Angeles from San Mateo. Over beers at 11 A.M., Doug, uncharacteristically, made a small peace offering to his son. “Bruce, you've been very good to us,” he said. And then, after a pause: “And I wasn't very good to you.”
“That was it,” Springsteen writes. “It was all that I needed, all that was necessary.”
David Kamp, in an article for Vanity Fair Magazine, asked him if he ever heard the words “I love you” from his father.
“No,” he said, a little pained. “The best you could get was 'Love you, Pops.' [Switching to his father's gruff voice.] 'Eh, me, too.' Even after he had a stroke and he'd be crying, he'd still go, 'Me, too.' You'd hear his voice breaking up, but he couldn't get out the words” (David Kamp, "The Book of Bruce Springsteen," Vanity Fair, October 2016; www.PreachingToday.com).
Well, let me tell you. Your Heavenly Father gets the words out every day! He says, “I love you” with every sunrise, with every provision, and with every hug from a friend or a grandchild. “His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lamentation 3:22-23).
Of course, the greatest way God showed you His love was when He gave His only Son to die on a cross for your sins. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). It also says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
All you have to do is trust Him with your life, and He gives you eternal life. He gives you a relationship with Him that starts today and continues into eternity. Wow! What more does God have to do to show you His love? Please, when the shine of your commitment to Him wears off, remember His love and commitment to you. Then, in response…
RESPECT GOD IN YOUR WORSHIP.
Honor the Lord when you bring your offerings to Him. Show great admiration when you come into His presence.
Malachi 1:6-14 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts. 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. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations (ESV).
The Jews were bringing second rate offerings to the Lord. They were offering blind, blemished, and sick animals when they came to worship Him, all the while complaining, “What a weariness this is.” It’s like they threw a few leftover dollars in the offering plate and complained about the boring worship service. No! God deserves our highest respect, because He is a great King, whom the nations will revere someday. But the Jews were only reflecting the attitude of their religious leaders.
Malachi 2:1-9 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction” (ESV).
The priests were also ho-hum about leading the worship services and teaching the people God’s ways. Unlike their ancestor Levi, their duties had become dull and routine to the point that God wished they would just close the doors of the temple (Malachi 1:10). They became wearied of God, so God became wearied of them.
Tammy Lindsey from Utica, New York, says the praise chorus “We Exalt Thee” took on a whole new meaning when she heard her three-year-old daughter singing her version: “We exhaust thee. We exhaust thee, O Lord” (Tammy Lindsey, Utica, New York, "Kids of the Kingdom." Christian Reader, www.PreachingToday.com).
Oh, dear friends, please, don’t exhaust the Lord with your lackadaisical, halfhearted worship. Instead, give Him the honor He deserves when you come to worship Him.
The book Final Salute tells the story of Major Steve Beck, a U.S. Marine whose heart-wrenching task was to inform the nearest of kin when a Marine was killed in Iraq. Beck didn’t just break the sad news and leave, no! For several days he helped the family through the process of the funeral. That included supervising the Marine honor guard that stood near the fallen soldier's body.
The honor guard learned from Beck how to salute their fallen fellow-Marine with a slow salute that isn't taught in basic training. The slow salute requires a three second raising of the hand to the head, a three second hold, and then a three second lowering of the hand—a gesture of respect that takes about nine times longer than normal. Beck explains: “A salute to your fallen comrade should take time.”
Indeed, those who die serving their country are worthy of great honor, worthy of a slow salute, worthy of extra time. To do some things fast, just to get them done so we can move on to the next thing, sends a subtle message of disrespect (Jim Sheeler, Final Salute, Penguin; www.PreachingToday.com).
In the same way, when you worship God, He deserves a “slow salute,” so to speak. The Savior who gave his life for you is worthy of your time and your highest respect.
So, when the shine of your commitment to God wears off, 1st, Remember His love for you; 2nd, Respect Him in your worship; then third…
REMAIN TRUE TO YOUR SPOUSE.
Stay committed to your wife or husband. Stop looking around for a better prospect, and stick to the one you have even when the romance is gone.
Malachi 2:10-12 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts! (ESV)
They were marrying women who worshipped foreign gods.
Malachi 2:13-16 And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless” (ESV).
They were also divorcing their wives for these foreign women. As a result, God no longer accepted their worship. They pretended to be devoted to God in the temple, but they were faithless at home. So God says, “Be faithful to the wife of your youth.” Remain committed to the spouse you married when you were young. Then and only then will I accept your worship.
Philip Yancey wrote of a friend of his named Susan. She claimed to be a Christian, but she told Yancey that her husband did not measure up and she was actively looking for other men to meet her needs for intimacy.
When Susan mentioned that she rose early each day to “spend an hour with the Father,” Yancey asked, “In your meetings with the Father, do any moral issues come up that might influence this pending decision about leaving your husband?”
Susan bristled: “That sounds like the response of a white Anglo-Saxon male. The Father and I are into relationship, not morality. Relationship means being wholly supportive and standing alongside me, not judging” (Jeremy Lott, “American Gnostic,” Books and Culture, November/December 2002; p. 37; www.PreachingToday.com).
She failed to see that you cannot remain committed to God if you are not committed to your spouse.
Gary Thomas put it this way: “If you're married, God is your spiritual Father-in-law.” He writes: “When I realized that I was married to God's daughter, everything changed in the way I viewed marriage. It was no longer about just me and one other person; it was very much a relationship with a passionately interested third partner”—God Himself (Gary Thomas, Holy Available, Zondervan, 2009, pp. 63-64; www.PreachingToday.com).
So, if your relationship with God is growing cold, check your relationship to your spouse, because God cares very much about how you treat His son or daughter.
When the shine of your commitment to God wears off, 1st, Remember His love for you; 2nd, Respect Him in your worship; 3rd, Remain true to your spouse; and 4th…
LOOK FORWARD TO GOD’S JUSTICE.
Anticipate that God will be righteous in his dealings with you and with those who disregard Him. Hope for the day when God makes everything right.
Malachi 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” (ESV)
The Jews questioned God’s justice because evil people were prospering while they were suffering. To which God says…
Malachi 3:1-6 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed (ESV).
God’s unchanging holy character demands that He refine His people and rebuke those who fail to respect Him. It may feel like you’re in a furnace of suffering right now. But as you depend on God, He is using the fire only to purify you. As for those who reject God, that fire will one day burn them forever.
God may seem slow about making things right, but when Jesus comes, justice will come, as well. Count on it!
In 1873 James Maxwell, a Scottish physicist, delivered an address at Cambridge titled “On Determinism and Free Will.” In that address Maxwell spoke about miracles, which he called “singular points.” A singular point occurs within history, but its occurrence is so infrequent and so relatively small that when it occurs, the finite mind cannot grasp its force for change. For example, in 1809 all the world was looking at Napoleon’s vast military exploits. Yet who noticed that a baby named Abraham was born that same year in northern Kentucky in a tiny log cabin? Retrospectively, of course, the world can now see the significance of that hour, which opened up a chance for this ship of state to be guided through the storms and into safe harbor, thereby preserving the Union and freeing those in the bondage of slavery. A singular point (Mack McCarter, “Why, Actually, Did Jesus Walk Among Us,” Comment, Fall 2024; www.PreachingToday.com).
When Rome dominated the world, a baby was born in a stable in Bethlehem, who profoundly changed the world. He set people free from the bondage of slavery to sin. And when He returns, He will rule the world with justice and peace. He will make all things right. So, when everything seems wrong, don’t lose your hope. Instead, anticipate that day and the fire of your commitment to God will burn bright again.
When the shine of your commitment to God wears off, 1st, Remember His love for you; 2nd, Respect Him in your worship; 3rd, Remain true to your spouse; 4th, Look forward to God’s justice. And 5th…
RETURN TO THE LORD IN YOUR GIVING.
Stop robbing God of what is rightfully His, and revive your commitment to give to Him.
Malachi 3:7-12 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts (ESV).
Under the Old Covenant, God required the Jews to give three tithes—1st, they were to give the Levites tithe, 10% every year, which went to support the priests and the Levites as they ministered in the temple (Leviticus 27:30). 2nd, they were to give the festival tithe, another 10% every year (Deuteronomy 12:10-11), which was used for their religious celebrations, to bring people together. And 3rd, they were to give the poor tithe (Deuteronomy 14:28-29), 10% every three years, for helping people in poverty (Kent Hughes, “The Grace of Giving,” Preaching Today, #205).
When you put the three tithes together, the Old Covenant required the Jews to set aside 23% of their income every year, but in Malachi’s day, they stopped doing that. So God accuses them of robbing Him. However, God challenges them to start giving again, promising to remove the locust plague (verse 11) and to bless them “until there is no more need” (verse 10).
Now, under the New Covenant, God no longer requires believers to give any tithes. He simply says, “Give as [you] have decided in [your] heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver,” with the result that “God [will] make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:7-8).
Under the New Covenant, God’s blessings are unconditional, but His promise remains to abundantly supply your needs. So don’t be afraid to give when God prompts you to help someone in need, because God promises to meet your needs, as well. On top of that, He promises to give you more than enough so you can keep on giving.
On an NPR broadcast a few years ago, Goodwill spokesperson Heather Steeves says, “We hope everyone brings great things that help our programs, but we know some people make some questionable judgments about what is good to donate.”
Then she holds up a lampshade, which is stained and disgusting and literally falling apart. There's also a small table missing a leg, cracked purple food-storage containers, and a used sponge. They're just a representative sample of the useless stuff dropped off the day before.
Along with simply being gross, these items cost Goodwill money. Steeves says, “All this trash adds up to more than $1 million a year in a trash bill, and it's been growing every year for the past five years.” And that's just for the 30 stores she oversees.
Last year, they threw away more than 13 million pounds of waste—technically other people's garbage—and that’s just in its locations in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
One comment on their Facebook page recently said, “If you wouldn't give it to your judgmental mother-in-law, don't donate it” (Todd Brookman, “Goodwill Doesn’t Want Your Broken Toaster,” NPR, 5-6-21; www.PreachingToday.com).
Now, that’s good advice, but also consider what the Bible says: “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed” (Proverbs 19:17). When you give, you are not giving to a judgmental mother or father-in-law. You are giving to the Lord, who has already given His best to you, His only Son. So, the least you can do is give your best to Him, not the leftovers.
When the shine of your commitment to God wears off, 1st, Remember His love for you; 2nd, Respect Him in your worship; 3rd, Remain true to your spouse; 4th, Look forward to God’s justice; 5th, Return to the Lord in your giving; and finally…
REVERE THE LORD.
Bow before Him with reverence and awe. Fear the Lord more than you fear people.
Malachi 3:13-15 “Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ”
It’s the same complaint they had before (Malachi 2:17): The wicked prosper while the righteous suffer, but that’s not the end of the story.
Malachi 3:16-18 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him (ESV).
God will spare His own treasured people and set the wicked ablaze.
Malachi 4:1-3 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts (ESV).
Even though they are suffering today, there is coming a day when God’s people will leap with joy! Therefore…
Malachi 4:4-5 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes (ESV).
When you fear the Lord, you obey Him, looking forward to the day when He restores broken families. This was God’s last word for 400 years until Jesus came on the scene and declared, “John the Baptist is [this] Elijah who is to come” (Matthew 11:14). John introduced the world to Jesus, who alone can restore broken lives, broken families, and a broken world. So, even in your pain, continue to trust and obey the Lord, i.e., continue to fear Him until He restores you.
Gerald Vann, a British theologian and philosopher, once said, “To grow in wisdom and love is not to lose all fear of God; it is to change our fear of God. It is to pass from the servile fear of the slave, the fear of punishment, to the loving reverence of the son, fearing to offend his father, and in the end to the purely selfless fear of the lover, the fear of hurting [the one] you love (Gerald Vann, The Divine Pity, Scepter Publishers, 2007; www.PreachingToday.com).
If your commitment to the Lord has grown cold, then grow in your fear of Him. That is to say, grow in your love for God so you fear hurting Him.
But that starts when you remember how much God loves you. Then you will respect Him in your worship, remain true to your spouse, look forward to His justice, return to Him in your giving, and truly revere Him.
For “we love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
