Malachi 3:6–18  “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. “You have said harsh things against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’ ” Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. “They will be mine,” says the LORD Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

 “I the Lord do not change.” The constancy of God can be a comforting thing and a frightening thing. Frightening because we know that He is a just God and punishes evil doers. But it is comforting because we know that He is also gracious and merciful and does not count our sins against us when we put our trust in Jesus as our Savior.

Part of the constancy of God is that He keeps reminding us who He is, as he does here through Malachi. Another thing He reminds us of is our failings, our shortcomings, our sins. He does this not to simply make us feel bad. He wants us to turn from our sins and back to Him. His desire is that we live our lives in response to His goodness. He wants us to recognize that we truly are His “treasured possession” and reflect that in the way we live our lives.

In this chapter, Malachi points out that people are not returning a portion of what God has given to then back to the Lord to show their gratitude. They are not asked to give anything that was not already given to them by God. The tragedy is that people deprive themselves of even greater blessings from God when they do not live their lives as He encourages us to do. You can never out-give God. The one who gave His life so that you could have forgiveness and life everlasting continues to bless us.

Of course you will see people who do not fear God who have lots of worldly wealth and that doesn’t seem fair. That is Satan trying to distract you from the wealth you already have in Jesus. You’ve got a Savior, whose birth we are about to celebrate, and God continues to shower down blessings upon you, His treasured possession.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?