Spirit & Truth # 267
“Cleansing MY Temple”
By Greg Smith
Every
year around this time, my wife gets the notion to do some spring cleaning. She’ll say, “Honey, we need to de-clutter the
basement.” Or, she’ll tell me, “Look at
those windows! They need to be
washed.” Or she’ll ask me to go to the
hardware store and buy some paint. Every
year around this time, I get the urge to go fishing. I wonder if somehow there’s a
connection. I don’t think I’m
alone. A lot of men try to avoid spring
cleaning.
In
Mark 11:1-20, Jesus doesn’t avoid spring cleaning, but marches right up to
it. He doesn’t just choose any
house. He chooses God’s house. Jesus rides into Jerusalem
on a donkey while shouts “hosanna!” that ring from the palm-waving crowd. He then goes to the temple, takes a look
around, and walks away. Yes—He just
walks away.
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As
He overturned the tables, Jesus said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be
called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of
robbers.’” Just as He drove the rip-off
artists out of the temple that day, Jesus wants to drive the robbers out of my
heart today. In John 10:10 (NIV), Jesus says, “The thief comes only
to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it
to the full.” Jesus wants to cleanse MY
temple (my heart, where God desires to dwell), and drive out everything that steals
true worship and service from my soul.
This means He wants to drive out my sin and anything else that robs me
of purity, obedience, and blessing.
Jesus
still cleanses temples. Today, He wants
to drive the anger, greed, laziness, pride, lust, envy, and over-indulgence
from your heart. I believe He wants to
cleanse MY temple today. Don’t you think
it’s time to let Him cleanse yours?
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