Last night we sat by our fire pit and watched the sunset. We don’t do that often enough. It was a beautiful sight. Last month a wrote a devotion about the beauty of the sun setting, sharing a picture my brother-in-law took, and based it on Psalm 113, which says:

Psalm 113:3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.

When we came back into the house I was looking for other passages that talk about the sun rising and setting. One of them is in the book of Malachi. That led me to read the entire book, and I thanked God for leading me to a message I needed to hear this Advent season. The next several days of devotions will be sharing some of my thoughts as I read through the book of Malachi.

As I said, Malachi mentions the sun setting.

Malachi 1:11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

That sounds like a great thing, that people everywhere will acknowledge that the Lord is God, the one in control, and they will give Him the praise and glory He deserves. It is a wonderful thing. But this passage is in the middle of a chapter where God, through his prophet, is calling His people out for their lack of faithfulness. He is dressing them down for the inferior offerings that they are bringing to the Temple.

Take a moment right now to read Malachi chapter one.

God is not pleased with His people offering less than their best to Him. Sacrifices were supposed to be healthy and unblemished animals, but that was not what they were bringing. How often do we do the same?

During Advent we prepare to celebrate the arrival of God giving His best to us. He gave us His Son, who lived a perfect life, unblemished  by sin, so that He could offer that for the sins of the world. John the Baptizer identified Him as such:

John 1:29 “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

He came for the world, which is why we anticipate His name being great among the nations everywhere in this world.

As part of my Advent preparations, I am asking God to help me remember that I should always offer Him my best as a response of gratitude to Him having given me His best in the gift of Jesus as my Savior. I want the place I live to be a place where His name is great.

A beautiful sunset was my reminder.