God keeps his promises

We make a lot of promises.

We promise to get our work done by the end of the day.  We promise to keep our houses cleaner. We promise ourselves that we will eat healthier and exercise and lose a few pounds.  We even promise our kids that their life will be better than ours.

Yet, how often do we keep those promises?  We may have good intentions, but we simply can't keep all the promises we make.  We are human.

But God does.

In Malachi 3:16-4:3, God makes a promise to his faithful followers.  For three chapters in Malachi, God has been dealing with whining and complaining Jewish people who believe God has abandoned them.  For three chapters, they accused him of being unjust, unloving and unavailable.  All the while, they continued to violate the standards he set for the relationship.

In Malachi 3:16, God starts addressing those who defended God.  While he rebukes the whiners, to his followers, he made a promise.  When the day of judgment comes, they will not be judged and condemned like the wicked.

You see, God makes a distinction between those who truly follow him and those who are just pretending.  In the previous chapters of Malachi, we see that the Jewish complainers are only pretending to honor and follow God.  They had given lackluster sacrifices, divorced their wives to marry foreign women and had stopped tithing.  All the while, they expected God to bless them. They were pretending to honor God when they only honored themselves.

After expressing his displeasure, God then tells his people - his truly devoted followers - that they will be blessed in the end, even if it seems that the wicked prosper now.  Those that follow him will be rewarded one day.

As believers in Christ, we know that only a relationship with Jesus averts eternal disaster.  Only following Christ will matter on the day of judgment.  God will make a distinction between the followers of Jesus and the pretenders who have no relationship with him.

Which one are you?

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