What shape is your temple in?
We can see quite clearly what shape our physical bodies are in. We know when they need a ‘cleansing!’ We know when we need to ‘get to work’ and ‘work out’ a bit or go for a walk, etc. Hey, we know when our hair is ‘in need’ of some attention and needs some ‘cutting down!’ We look in the mirror everyday, and make sure things are OK and presentable…but what about our temple?
This is a hard question.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16).
It is told in a Book that is a ‘must read’, the Book of Matthew that a Man came into Jerusalem, and all the city ‘was moved’. (Matthew 21:10). No, He didn’t come in like one of the Roman soldiers on their impressive black stallions; no, this Man came riding in on a donkey’s colt. (Matthew 21:6-9).
The city was ‘moved’. The hearts of the people ‘quaked’ as we would understand an ‘earthquake!’ People’s hopes were high, they were taking off their garments and laying them on the ground, thinking, “This Man is going to take over the Roman rule and oppression in our life!” The children were shouting “Hosanna, Save Now!” “Hosanna, Save Now!” (Matthew 21:9).
“And Jesus went into the temple of God…”(Matthew 21:12).
Jesus didn’t DO what was expected, perhaps to deal with the Romans, no, ‘Jesus went into the temple of God…’
“…and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves.” (Matthew 21:12).
If ‘your body is the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you’, and Jesus ‘went into the temple of God’ which is you,…
this is a hard question. If it is true that ‘the Lord searches us, and knows us, and knows when we sit down and when we rise up; and if it is true that He even ‘understands our thoughts afar off’, does that not cause us to ‘quake’ inside?
This is a hard question, this is a hard thing, to take time to evaluate the shape of our ‘temple’. “And Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves. And said unto them,
“It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.” (Matthew 21:12,13).
The temple of God is meant to be a place of prayer and praise to God. Today, let us ask a hard question: Is our temple a place of praise and prayer where prayers are offered, where we ‘talk to God’ throughout our day, ‘rejoicing always, praying without ceasing and in everything giving thanks, because this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’ and for me (1 Thes. 5: 16-18).
“And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them.” (Matthew 21:14).
The temple is a place where people are helped, where people are healed of their hurts. This is a hard question. Are we even willing to ask it? Can we ‘do hard things’ and take a look and ask ourselves, “What shape is the temple, which is me’ what shape is it in?” Do I take time to ‘help others’ and concern myself with their ‘hurts?’
“And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased…” (Matthew 21:15). What’s our attitude? Are we actually ‘scoffers’ and ‘sore displeased’. Is church a place that makes us ‘sore displeased?’, or are we like the children? what were the children doing?
The children were singing and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matthew 21:15). The children were singing praises and praising God! The children weren’t worried of all that Jesus might cause them to lose like the chief priests and the scribes, they were praising God for all He ‘was and is and is to come!’ They weren’t focused on anything around them, the out of tune notes, the dirty clothes laid down at His feet, the commotion, the toes being stepped on – NO! The children were focused on Jesus.
And Jesus said to them, who were ‘sore displeased’, “Yes, Have you never read, “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise?” (Matthew 21:16).
The children shouted, the children praised, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”
A hard question? Are you taking time for ‘worship and prayer’? Personally, intimately? Are some ‘tables being turned over?’ Go to church and be there alone- Just you and God, just you and Jesus and tell Him,
“I worship You Lord. I worship YOU. You are God and know all things.” In your kitchen, in your living room – spend some time, ‘talking with God, worship Him’, hey, even in the crowd, you can be alone with God, He is the ‘Lord who saves!’
Let Jesus ‘turn over some tables’ and you will not be ‘sore displeased’, instead you will be ‘as a child again’ and be able to worship and pray and focus on Him: “Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” (Ps. 95:6,7).
Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to worship and praise HIm. Today is the day to ‘forget about yourself and magnify the Lord and worship Him’, and on that day, we will soon see that Jesus didn’t come to ‘take care of the Romans’, He came to take care of me, and to take care of you.
Let Jesus come in and turn over some tables! That ‘cleansing’ will bring about a ‘life everlasting’, even today!
“…and whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).
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