Temple part 2
One of the "coolest" (in the sense that we like to make God in our image instead of understanding what it means to be made in His image) stories in the Bible is the one where Jesus gets mad and flips over the tables in the temple. And I think we like that story because of the "human" reaction. Because when we get mad we sometimes flip table over. Or at least we WANT to. And here Jesus actually did it. But lets look at WHY He did it. "And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves" (Mark 11:17). The problem was that they were misusing the temple. It was more important to make money than it was to bless people. (And if you go even further, you understand that the money changers were selling sacrifices to the people, so in a sense Jesus was overturning that whole religious system. But that's not for today.) Jesus wanted to tear down the temple (His body) and rebuild it in three days. The temple made without hands. The temple that we are. The house of God. The house of love. The house where the Holy Spirit dwells. So let's keep our analogy going: Sometimes it feels like Jesus is flipping tables over in US. But not out of anger, certainly. Out of love. Let me say it this way: Jesus built the house. He gets to choose what goes in it. And, again, with the understanding that the work is finished... He already chose what went in it. Its like when you move into a new house, and you realize how much stuff has piled up in the old house. Stuff you don't need. Stuff that doesn't fit anymore. Stuff that doesn't serve the purpose of the temple. Remember, a temple is a shrine. The most important thing in the world is, if I can say it this way, placed on a pedestal. Put on display. And the most important thing in the world is, of course, love. We are God's love letter to the world. WE are how God's love is put on display. Jesus was--and we are--the visible face of the invisible God. We are the temple where the Holy Spirit lives. And because He lives IN us, He also lives THROUGH us. What's inside comes out. It is put on display when the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) becomes flesh. When love as an idea becomes acts of kindness. Charity is love in action. A living temple. And, in a sense, since there are a bunch of different temples... it makes up a Kingdom. Get it? But its so easy to try to build our own temple. Our own house. Our own kingdom. And that's why we end up with so much unnecessary stuff. We try to decorate our lives with whatever we can find because we so often look for love in all the wrong places. Better to be still and know that HE is God. Let me wrap this up with part of Psalm 127:1, "...Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it..." So just enjoy the work that the Lord has done. The work that has been finished. Don't flip any tables over. Don't let anger control you. Christ's love controls us. The house has the right stuff in it. The temple is full!