For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. – Malachi 2:7

 Today's Scripture Reading (October 13, 2020): Malachi 2

Puppeteer and Muppet Creator Jim Henson argued that "Kids don't remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are." And it isn't just kids. One of the biggest obstacles that I watch people struggle through has nothing to do with what they know, but everything to do with who they are. Admittedly, it has even been an obstacle that I have had to overcome in my relationships with people. Sometimes the way people see you overshadows the message that you are trying to send.

It is a prevalent problem for politicians. It is impossible to obfuscate or outright lie and then hope that your audience will accept your words as truth when that is what you need them to do. If that is what you aspire to be, the best liars are those who spin their mistruths occasionally, but who typically tell the truth. Sometimes, they can get away with their lies for a time. But those who continually lie are often not believed, even when they tell the truth.

The priesthood during the days of Malachi seems to be in disarray. The priests were defiled, and they were not trusted by the very people they had been called to serve. That was a problem; the priests were the same people, commissioned by God, to give the people truth about the nature of their faith journey. The message that was coming from the mouth of Malachi should have been coming from the priests. The Prophet's name meant "The Messenger," but Malachi argues that the priests were the ones designed by God to be "The Messengers" who spoke to Israel, but they were failing at their tasks. The message from the priests was either contradictory or simply not believed by the people.

But it might not have been that the priests didn't know. The problem was that the priests' character did not allow the people to believe anything that they said. And so, God had commissioned another "Messenger" to come to the people, Malachi. This messenger's character was such that the people could believe him. And he would tell the people the truth about God.

It is a principle that we need to remember in our world. Our character matters and impacts every truth that we try to tell. And if we ignore that reality, we can never be the truth-tellers that this world needs. Matters of faith will end up being just another thing thrown onto the trash heap along with all of the other lies that people tell. People won't believe us when it comes to what we know about God, because we have never been truthful about the little things of life. Because, when it comes to the knowledge we would like to share, who we are matters more than what we know.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Malachi 3 & 4