My messenger

Malachi 3:1
"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,"

It has been said "No parent should ever live to see their child die." Pastor Mark observed that John and Marrissa, a young couple, know what it is like to loose a son. They know in a more personal way, the price that God paid for us (1 John 4:10). Malachi was almost 7 months old when he died last week after fighting an heroic battle to live a life that, medically,  he should have never had.

The message Saturday at at Calvary Baptist Church in Plainfield Indiana was about Malachi, about God and about us. Pastor Jeff reminded us that Malachi was the reason, but that God was the purpose we were there.  Comfort should not be superficial, but it is better to go to a house of mourning than a feast (Ec 7:2). Even in pain, we can have answers:  

1) Malachi is a reward, not a punishment. I spoke to my sons David and Sean the night before about this very passage as we talked about death and life:

John 9:2-3
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered,“ It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. ."

2) Warning, Prepare to meet your God: Unless you too repent, you will all likewise perish. Death is an enemy in a fallen world. 

John 14: 6
Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except by me. “ I am going to prepare a place for you”,

The cross is that place. He endured what I deserve. Believe in God, believe also in me.

3) Malachi's Life and Death was worth it. God did not spare his own son, whoever believes will not perish, but have everlasting life. When Jon and Marrisa see their son in Heaven, and they ask him that question, he will smile and count his suffering as but a light affliction compared to the price paid for him, and say yes, it was worth it.

Your life, hardship, sufferings, beauty from pain.....is worth it.  Thank you Malachi for the message. Thank you Jesus for Malachi.