Clearing the Temple

“I’ll be the merchant first, then you can each have a turn.”

I explained what we were doing to the two second grade girls in my Sunday school class. They grinned, their excitement contagious. Though the class was small in number, we had just enough to do the planned activity, a skit about two travelers entering the Temple to worship God during Passover, only to be cheated by a money-hungry merchant. Both girls hugged and squeezed the stuffed animal birds (rather, a duck and a pelican) that I’d grabbed from Chase’s overflowing stuffed animal stash at home, eager to begin acting out the scene.

Our lesson came from John 2:13-25, a surprising section of scripture detailing Jesus’ righteous anger toward the money-loving merchants corrupting His Father’s house during Passover. The Jewish people celebrated Passover in remembrance of God’s deliverance from Pharaoh and heavy-handed Egyptian rule over a thousand years prior, and many traveled great distances to offer praise and sacrifices to God.

When Jesus, His family, and His disciples arrived in Jerusalem, merchants inside the temple walls were cheating the travelers coming from far and wide to worship. Many of the Jewish people had no choice but to purchase poor quality sacrificial animals at inflated prices, creating a money-focused and greed-driven environment that displeased the visiting worshippers and infuriated God. Filled with righteous anger at God’s holy house becoming a marketplace of money-grubbing, Jesus made a whip with rope and drove out the people and animals, symbolically sending the money flying in all directions.

“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” (John 2:13-16)

In his commentary, Matthew Henry noted: “The first public work in which we find Christ engaged, was driving from the temple the traders whom the covetous priests and rulers encouraged to make a market-place of its courts. Those now make God’s house a house of merchandise, whose minds are filled with cares about worldly business when attending religious exercises, or who perform Divine offices for love of gain.” In an act of biblical foreshadowing, Jesus clears the Temple – the place where God’s people come to worship their Creator in awe and reverence, just as he’ll later clear the slate of sin from our hearts through His finished work at Calvary.

Today we don’t need stone or concrete temples to worship God; instead, our hearts are His temple through our faith in Jesus Christ. Because God’s word is “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12), the lesson I taught to my 2nd and 3rd grade students hit the bullseye of my heart that morning. Conviction squeezed in a tight-fisted grip, loving and painful. I spent needed time praying about my heart’s condition and for God’s help to clear away the material mess cluttered up inside my heart, stealing my security in my Savior as a want of worldly goods walled everything else out.

We have to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), daily fill our mind with God’s word, and give thanks for what He has given us (1 Thess. 5:16-18, James 1:17), in order to keep the temple of our heart clear for Jesus.

Shoe Guard

“They’re probably not going to stop someone who really wants to break into our house.”

I followed my hubby’s gaze downward, to the pair of his large, scuffed gray and blue Nike sneakers I’d just placed at the base of the front door.

“You doubt the shoes?” I gave him my best shocked expression.

Trev gave me a long, skeptical look complete with eyebrows raised. He shook his head slightly at his shoes standing guard, then finished getting ready for bed. I did too, but my mind jogged back to the pair of shoes strategically placed at our front door.

Don’t doubt the shoes!

One of my nightly rituals is placing Trev’s well-worn shoes on guard at the front door. Despite double-locked doors, a blaring house alarm, and a 70 pound bark-happy, stranger-skeptical dog, I feel the need to place his Nikes on top of one another at the base of the door frame – a shoe guard at the entrance to our home.

Though my humoring hubby teases, I’ve learned through multiple experiences that it’s nearly impossible to breach the threshold of the front door with shoes scattered about. Cole or Chase have often come inside before me and left their flip-flops or sneakers in front of the door instead of in our large entryway shoe basket, and it takes some serious shoving, heaving, and grumbling to finally step foot inside our house.

The shoe guard works!

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23

I fondly remember reading Proverbs 4:23 in my daily bible calendar a few years back, ripping the page out, and taping it to my fridge so I could read and reread the simple yet profound words written by King Solomon thousands of years ago. It’s a key life verse for me, one that bridged my Christian walk from lukewarm believer to fired-up Christ-follower, and led me into my purpose for God’s glory – my writing.

When I read Proverbs 4:23, I often picture an army surrounding my heart, weapons handy and battle gear on – guarding my heart in order to keep it safe ground for the Holy Spirit. But as I matured in my faith walk, and have hidden more of God’s word in my heart, He’s shown me that we don’t need an army to guard our hearts for Jesus.

(We don’t need a shoe guard, either.)

I believe the first and most important step in guarding our heart for Christ is keeping it humble before the Lord.

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” ~ 1 Peter 5: 6&7

Throughout scripture, the word humble is mentioned 68 times. James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Oswald Chambers wrote, “Our friendship with Jesus is based on the new life He created in us, which has no resemblance or attraction to our old life but only to the life of God. It is a life that is completely humble, pure, and devoted to God.”

2 Chronicles is a clear picture of Israel’s history of the various kings ruling over Judah and their struggles with humbling their hearts before God. This was especially the case when the Lord gave them success over other nations. King Uzziah served the Lord well, until “his fame spread far and wide,” and “when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction…” (2 Chronicles 26:15 & 16). King Zedekiah “did evil in the sight of the Lord His God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet,” and “stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel” (2 Chronicles 36:12 & 13).

God resists the proud…

Too often, as I travel life’s road, I’ll detour at self-centered service stops to fill up on pride, losing the humbleness that keeps my heart pure and soft for Christ and allows the Holy Spirit to work. I need God’s grace each day, and I want my Savior setting out the course of my life, not my self-centered pride.

Keep your heart humble before the Lord today, and God will lead you in the right race for His glory.