A Love of Our Own

 Malachi 1:2–3

"I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? 

Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,  

And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage

waste for the dragons of the wilderness" 

     Malachi began with encouragement, telling the people that God loved them, but the people responded, “How can that be? How can He love us?” The people of Malachi’s time felt unworthy and unlovable. They believed that any grace shown to them by God was only because of the merit of their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

    But God told them ,"Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?"   Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” In other words, if that logic were true, then God would have loved Esau, too. After all, he was also a descendant of the patriarchs!  Ultimately, a person’s relationship with God comes down to that person and God.

    We acknowledge God as our own personal God; before we mention that He is the God of our forefathers in order to emphasize that our relationship with God must be personal.

Sure, we all benefit from being the spiritual heirs of such holy and beloved men and women, but it’s not enough. If we worship God only because our parents did, that’s not enough. If we go to church only because it’s our family tradition, it’s not enough. First we must discover our own connection to God, and only then can we enjoy the benefits of our heritage.

    God is not inherited!  A relationship with Him has to be earned, and cultivated by every individual who walks this earth! We must all go through our own trials and develop our own faith. And then, when He loves us, it will be for our own sake and not based on anything else. 
Amen!

Reading: Mal. 1:2-3
Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You 

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry