The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18).

God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. We were created to be full of light and truth, just like God. But when we give an inch to wickedness we do a terrible thing by sullying the image of God in us. Wickedness suppresses the truth. So every time we choose to sin, not only do we get dirty, we also get stupid. When we first sin, the Holy Spirit convicts our conscience that what we have done is wrong. We know for a fact that we have not done what is good. But if we keep on sinning, every bit of evil we do makes us more and more foolish. Eventually we become immune to that burning of the conscience when we sin and can no longer hear the Holy Spirit. In the end, God will give us over to our sinful desires and we end up exchanging the truth of God for a lie. We will start thinking that evil is perfectly normal and acceptable and approve of others who do evil.

Thank You, Lord, for this sobering reminder. Sin is dangerous not just because of physical consequences like high blood pressure from uncontrolled anger or STDs from sexual immorality. It’s not just dangerous because of relational consequences like divorce from disrespect and broken friendships from lies. Sin is also dangerous because of the deep spiritual consequences of becoming unable to recognize truth, unable to discern good from evil. Lord, help me not to sin. Help me not to get spiritually dumb. Help me to run in the path of Your commands today that I may honor Your truth rather than suppress it.

“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod” (Mark 8:15).

The disciples had no idea what Jesus was talking about. Jesus got pretty frustrated with them and said, “Won’t you ever learn or understand? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? You have eyes-can’t you see? You have ears-can’t you hear? Don’t you remember anything at all?” (Mark 8:17-18). The poor disciples really didn’t get it. And I didn’t get it either for a long time. But Jesus gave them some hints. He reminded them about the two times that he multiplied the fish and the loaves. Each time there were many baskets of leftovers. Those leftovers were the proof that Jesus didn’t just boast with empty words. He actually had the true, awesome creative power of God Himself. His gospel was confirmed from heaven with signs and wonders. His teaching was backed up with the highest power anywhere in the universe. He didn’t need no yeast to puff up those fish and loaves. He multiplied them and they weren’t just filled with air.

It’s explained in Luke 12:1 that the yeast of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. The Pharisees had just demanded in Mark 8:11 that Jesus show them a miraculous sign to prove that he was the Christ. But of course Jesus refused because they didn’t believe, and then he left them. The Pharisees made like they truly believed and followed God. But in reality, they have very little actual faith. They pretended to serve God, but really only served themselves. Just as yeast is used to puff up bread and make it look bigger, the selfish ambition of the Pharisees filled them with pride, haughtiness and self-satisfaction. But that pride is based on a false sense of power, because like bread their stature was based on empty pockets of air, without any real power from God. This made them feel threatened by Jesus, who they realized had true power. They were afraid that someone would discover that they were just really full of hot air, poke them with a needle, and they would deflate like a balloon in a very undignified manner. But they continued to go about their lives, living in hypocrisy. Jesus teaching was backed up with baskets full of real food; the Pharisees teaching was only backed up by their hot breath.

Jesus warned the disciples to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod because he didn’t want them to fall into the same trap of hypocrisy. He wanted them to serve God and God alone. That’s why he later said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross and follow me. If you try to keep you life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life” (Mark 8:34-35).

Lord, help me to lay down all my selfish desires. I want to worship You alone. I don’t want to serve myself. I want to be completely Yours. Please fill me with faithfulness to honor You as You deserve. You are righteous, holy and worthy of glory. Help me to take up my cross today; I want desperately to follow You and You alone. 

I will rebuke your descendants and splatter your faces with the dung of your festival sacrifices, and I will add you to the dung heap (Malachi 2:3).

Talk about disgusting metaphoric imagery … that’s gotta be in the top five most putrid of the Bible. God can be pretty expressive in His communication style. I love the fact that God always cuts right to the chase. But all kidding aside, He was giving the priests a very severe warning. Why would a loving God wish such an unsanitary and degrading fate on anyone? The fact is God does love us and wants to bless us. But in His justice He cannot bless what is wicked; He can only curse wickedness. His warnings are given to help us repent and turn back to Him so that we can receive His blessings. In His amazing kindness and mercy, He extends time for us to repent and turn back to Him.

Getting back to the dung splatter … why would God threaten to do that to the priests? Let me tell you, it was not in the least unprovoked. The Father God expressed His love to the people of Israel and their response was like a stinging slap in the face: “How have you loved us?” What a selfish and rebellious response! It makes me think of how I used to be as a rotten, rebellious kid. “What have you done for me lately?” You would think that all someone would have to do is think about how Christ suffered and died for us to know just how much God loves us. I was so horrified to hear a struggling Christian say recently, “Jesus didn’t suffer that much. He died a quick death.” I could scarcely believe that came out of her mouth.

How have you loved me? That question belies a complete lack of respect for God. Out of this contempt, the priests did many things that dishonored the Lord. First of all, they don’t serve with a servant’s heart. “It’s too hard to serve the Lord,” they say. If someone is going to just grumble when they do something for me, I’d rather they not do it. God feels the same way (Malachi 1:10). Second, they offered defiled food on His altar. The animal to be sacrificed were to be perfect and without blemish. Instead, the priests only gave God the blind, decrepit or diseased beasts. And even that, they only gave begrudgingly (Malachi 2:13).

As priests they were supposed to guide the people to follow and serve the Lord. But they themselves weren’t doing that. Jews were not to marry foreign women because those women would bring foreign idols into the homes of the Israelites and teach their children to do the same. Doing so would pollute the people’s faithfulness to the Lord. But even the priests married foreign women (Nehemiah 13:28). Even the Temple itself wasn’t safe from pagan infiltration. Amazingly, one priests even cornered off a Temple storeroom for the use of pagan government official (Nehemiah 13:5).

And after all that, they had the gall to question God’s justice. Probably when some tragedy occurred, they would shake their fist at heaven and ask, “Where is the God of justice?” That’s just what people still do today. They show contempt for God in their lives and when something bad happens that blame God.

I am so grieved to think how we human beings have repeatedly disgraced God ever since we were first created. How can I love God? How can I honor Him rightly? First I need to repent. Then I need to seek Him with all of my heart, not begrudgingly with grumbling, but with a joyful and humble heart of a servant. And my sacrifices are to be the very best I can give. How contemptible some of my previous sacrifices have been! I know that the best part of my day is early in the morning when it is still quiet. I must give Him my very best, not my leftovers. If I waited until past midnight until I finally tried to read the Bible and pray, I’d be so tired that I’d only be able to offer a pitiful sacrifice and that only begrudgingly given because I’d rather sleep. So I need to give Him my very best part of every day. And in every area of my life, I must live sanctified unto the Lord. Each part of my life must be consecrated and set apart for the glory of God. I must be very careful not to allow the slightest bit of compromise.

Lord, you know how I’ve failed You. I’m so sorry. I want to make a new start. Please forgive me and give me a refreshing from Your Spirit. Help me to live a life that is pleasing to You. I don’t want to be like those priests. I definitely don’t want no dung on my face! Help me, Lord, to consecrate every part of my life to You and to offer my very best to You. Let me be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing in Your sight. My desire is to honor You. Help me do that!