Leftovers

Softball is fun! My team lost to the other Bartlett Baptist team, but we only lost by one run, which I thought was a very respectable defeat. I even got a run and didn't strike out at all! My fielding skills left a LOT to be desired, but hopefully the other teams we play won't have these huge left-handed batters that send the ball right to me, and I can spend my time in right field more leisurely. The one thing I didn't expect after playing softball: soreness. My back and my shoulders really hurt! I'm so out of shape, it's pathetic!

Church this morning was really convicting. The message was out of Malachi, and it was on worship and what we bring to God. Bro. Michael talked a lot about how we bring our leftovers to worship. The Israelites were disrespecting God by bringing blemished sacrifices or holding the sacrifices or worship in contempt, and even though we don't sacrifice animals to God and our disrespect isn't something so obvious as a blind or crippled animal, we do the same thing. We wouldn't sleep at our desks at work, but some people sleep through church; we wouldn't talk to our neighbor and pass notes during class or at work (or if you do, you shouldn't), but lots of people talk to each other during the sermon or pass notes. We just don't place the same importance on worship as we do other things in our life, and that really hit home for me. I don't sleep in the service or pass notes, but I do often come tired b/c I've stayed up late the night before, or I'll come not having spent any time with God for a few days and then expect to play "catch-up" during the service on Sunday. Sunday isn't catch-up day; it should be an extension of our everyday lives, and for a lot of people--including me sometimes--it's just not. One of Bro. Michael's points is that our attitude often dictates our actions, and we reveal the level of importance we place on worshipping God by how we act in a worship service, or even during the week. My eyes were really opened to the little things in my life that I withhold from God or the affections I place elsewhere that only belong to God, and I'm certainly going to need His grace to stop giving Him my leftovers.