Sometimes it’s a both/and circumstance. We can have both this and that. It’s always great when that happens! We get the results we want and we don’t have to pay a huge sacrifice or go through a hard time.

But most of the time, when it comes to our Christian walk and the choices we make every day, it’s an either/or proposition. My assertion in this series of articles is that modern Christianity has devolved into a both/and hope instead of reconciling our faith to the either/or realties of the committed godly life.

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. It was probably written during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The Jews, exiled to Babylon for several decades, returned to their homeland and to Jerusalem, God’s Holy City. They were forced into that Babylonian captivity because of their ongoing attraction to idolatry, violating the first and foundational commandment: I am the LORD your God...you will have no other gods before Me. And then the second one—You shall not make for yourself a carved image… (Exodus 20:2-4)

It appears from the post-exile prophets that God resolved the idolatry issue with them. But that did not mean there weren’t spiritual problems. They replaced the foreign gods and idols with new “idols,” more in keeping with what we would recognize today. They became swept up in their concerns for the day-to-day. They were distracted from God by jobs, money, daily demands, and time constraints. God was waaaaay down the list of priorities. Sound familiar?

But they convinced themselves they could do what they were doing and still be treated as God’s chosen, standing strong in the covenant. They wanted both this and that. God showed them if they would make an either/or decision, then they would indeed be blessed. He even told them to test Him in these things:

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. (Malachi 3:10)

Just exactly what were they doing? They were giving God the leftovers. They were treating earthly matters as more important than Him. They brought the worst of their flock to the temple for sacrifice instead of the best. “I mean, c’mon, if I bring the best, that costs me more, right?” So, they brought the lame little sheep or the one that was blind, the one that would fetch very little in the market place. They sacrificed to God ...what is blemished. (Malachi 1:14)

Then God told them, “I am a great King….” But they sure didn’t respect Him as a great King...or a great God. He showed absolute disdain for their “sacrifices.” In chapter one—and this is my summary, not a quote—He basically said, “You honor all kinds of people greater than you honor Me. Sons honor their fathers more than they honor Me. Slaves honor their masters more than they honor Me. I’ll bet you’d never give the governor the sickly little lamb you’re willing to offer Me.”

But they wanted both this and that. They wanted to give to God as little as possible, with as little cost involved, and still be God’s chosen people and receive all the blessings that go with that. They were genuinely puzzled by God’s lack of blessing. Yet, they offered inferior sacrifices. They stopped tithing. The priests stopped being the godly priests they needed to be.

It’s either/or. Either they choose to go down that selfish path, or they choose to serve God first, even above their own needs and desires. So, as I wrote a few paragraphs ago, God challenged them. “Test Me,” He said. “Act like covenant people and then experience the blessing of being true covenant people.”

But just five verses after He says, “Test Me,” God warned them: Don’t test Me. The first one? Follow God’s will and desire and see what happens. Put the promise into reality. The second one? Don’t be so arrogant and evil that you think you can manipulate God and get what you want from Him without offering anything to Him that He wants.

I’m just getting started on this one and it’s not going to be easy. This lands squarely in our 21st century wheelhouse!