Malachi 2:10–11 NIV
10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god.
“So a call is issued for a new loyalty and love for the whole people of God, Israel—his body of believers—and we must be reminded of our common origin and rebuked for our disloyalty one to another. God’s fatherhood is not related to the whole of creation or to the whole world, but only to his creating the one people of God… and they had also neglected their fraternal ties one to another. Forgetting that what hurt one of them hurt all the body, they began to join themselves in marriage to heathen women or to put away by divorce their own wives in defiance of their obligations to one another, to the body, and to the covenant marriage to which God was a witness?” (W. Kaiser)
In this passage, the word “unfaithful” is used in the context of the church community. The message in Malachi places much importance and covenantal understanding on how we are to be faithful to one another in the way we live, pray, worship, and engage the world. This gives the reality that one does not worship alone for themselves alone. Rather, each time we worship, even privately, it affects and influences the whole body.
Prayer: Lord we ask for the empowering to love one another with the affections of Christ. We pray for a renewed commitment to pray for one another. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Let’s worship to the song “Old For New” by Bethel (click here).
-GK
