Temple Clearing

Matthew 21:12-17, Jesus, right after His triumphal entry, entered the temple and began clearing it. Knocking over the tables, He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

When I read about the temple, my mind is always brought back to the fact that we are the temple now. As Christians we are the temple of God. We are supposed to keep ourselves holy and set apart for His service, but we tend to forget this. We are supposed to always be open for the hurting to come to us. Our homes are to be a sanctuary, a safe place, not only for us, but for others as well.

I had some college girls living with us a few months ago. Through their eyes, I started living my life as a Christ follower. Every time we have opened our home for someone else to stay with us, we have realized something very profound. It is in our home that our true faith is revealed. If you have to change the way you talk to your children, because someone else is listening, maybe your heart is not right toward your children. If others want to avoid your interaction with your spouse, maybe your heart is hard to the one you said you were committed to. If you live differently when others are around you, something is wrong. We are the temple of God. Every day is to be set aside for Him through our lives. It is not about earning your salvation, that is what the cross is about. It is about changing your actions, allowing Him to change your heart. It is about commitment. Who are you committed to?

This week is Holy week. The week set aside before Easter, so that we can thank Christ for dying for us on the Cross. We often think about what He does for us, but do we turn our thoughts inward at our commitment to Him? Do we need to clear the temple and look at how we are really living our lives, when no one else can see us? Can our children not only see our devotion to Christ in our home, but also feel His devotion to them through us? Does our spouse know that we are committed to them, sacrificially, for them. It is not about entering a building to show that we worship God. It is about being the temple of God on a daily basis. If Christ entered your temple after His triumphal entry, would He be knocking over some tables?