Scripture

Our focus verse for today comes from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ” Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. “

Background

If I were to ask you to give me an example of when Jesus got upset while He lived on earth, most of us would probably mention the incident when He drove out the merchants from the temple. He had just entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey and hearing the praises of the crowd. The time was a few days before the Passover, and traffic was heavy in town and at the temple. So Jesus heads straight for His Father’s house, the place He had been many times before. But what He sees this time stokes the wrath of the Almighty’s Son. The business that was going on, supposedly to assist those needing items for their sacrifices or coins in the proper currency, had turned into a huge racket. It was as if the fair was in town and they were trying to make as much money as possible before heading on to the next stop. So Jesus starts flipping tables and chairs, all the while quoting scripture. He wants His Father’s house to be a home for prayer, not a convention for traveling salesmen. And right after He clears the outer room where the vendors were, the strangest thing happens. Matthew 21:14 says that the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. Jesus sends the buyers and sellers and money changers running out the door, so that His blind and lame can get to Him for healing.

Application

And I hope the contrast is not lost on us. If we are the temple of God now, what do we look like inside? Are we buying and selling doves by giving God a little of our time in hopes that we’ll get His blessings? Are we exchanging our week of basically ignoring God for the sake of a couple hours of religion on Sunday? Are we hoping to get a deal by upgrading our sins from the bad kind to the less obvious kind? Or are we coming to Him blind and lame and wanting to be healed? Do we think we can manage our sin through the ways of the world, or do we bring it to Jesus and ask Him to cleanse us? You are His now. He bought you. Let Him do it His way.

Charge

As we seek Him today, examine your temple and see what has set up a few tables and chairs in there. Thank Him that He can turn them over, and thank Him for accepting us for the blind and lame that we are.