A crowd gathered in a Beijing intersection to watch two middle-aged Chinese women screaming at each other. One had pedalled into the other's bike, but at this point it was impossible to tell who was at fault. It didn't matter. Each was determined to save face; neither was about to back down.

It was an ugly, unfortunate scene, yet the two ladies were onto something. Their passion for honour is something God understands. The Lord Almighty continues His rebuke of the priests for dishonouring Him. If they do not change, God will ″curse [their] blessings″. Indeed, ″I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honour me″ (Malachi 2:2). This line in Hebrew literally reads, ″because you do not set your heart to give glory to my name.″

The Hebrew word for glory is kābôd. It comes from the Hebrew root, kbd, which means to be heavy or weighty. We honour God by declaring His worth, then living out that belief. The priests did neither. This was ironic since the ″glory (kābôd) of Yahweh″ had once filled the temple. The splendour of God's glory had shone so brightly at the first temple's grand opening that the priests could not perform their duties (2 Chronicles 5:14). Now they were once again not doing their job, but for the opposite reason. They didn't respect the dignity, the gravitas of God.

So God promises to shame them. In Leviticus 4:4-12, He had instructed the priests to sprinkle the sacrificial animal's blood and burn its fat on the altar of the tabernacle (and later temple), then take the unclean residue that was left, including ″the internal organs and intestines″, outside the camp and burn it. Now God vows to rub their faces in it: ″I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices″ (Malachi 2:3). Since the priests had refused to worship God rightly, He would make them ceremonially unclean, disqualifying them from serving at all. They had dishonoured God; He would dishonour them.

When we're confronted by our sins, we often look for ways to save face. We make excuses or blame others in a desperate attempt to preserve our dignity. But God's honour matters more than ours. Instead of trying to control what others think or say about us, we can set our hearts to tell God and them what we know He's worth. Let's lift our praise, and live our days, to the glory of God.