God's message to Israel through the prophet Malachi was, "I have loved you" (1:1-5). But Israel had failed to love God in return. This failure was obvious in their hypocritical worship (1:6-14) and in the failure of both priest and people to hear God's Word and take it to heart (2:1-9). Both of these failures were caused by insincere affections. It is never enough to worship God in words, but true love is best manifest in deed and truth (1 John 3:18).