Malachi 3:6-12, Genesis 28:10-22 - Listen to this message now in Real Audio or download as MP3

“Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Mark 8:35. So much of our lives is about surviving, gaining an advantage, the accumulation of happiness in the things we come to own.

But Jesus tells us that life is really about living for Christ. However it is impossible for us to give up what we have worked so hard to get unless we experience God’s love in our lives and catch a glimpse of eternity. This life is a shadow of the life that is to come. We live our lives as though today and tomorrow is all there is going to be. We forget so easily that time and life as we know it will come to an end so that a new creation will take its place. Those who have front row seats in heaven are those who have given up their lives for Christ and the gospel. Those people who have lived for eternity rather than living for the comforts and happiness that the world offers today. God confronts His people in Malachi 3:6-12 with their lack of trust in Him, they preferred to withhold their giving to spend it on themselves. God encourages them to trust Him and to give. He promises that those who give will receive far more than they could have kept by withholding their offering.