Has a mess ever made you want to pitch a fit? My mind only has to go back about 15 hours to the last time I felt that way. A well-exercised dog left while we did our "corona virus evening walk" (replacement exercise for our usual gym routine) ended in a terrible mess on my carpet. My daughter was first in the house and promptly came out to warn me and said, "Mom, you're gonna be mad." Honestly- I knew immediately what had happened, yet even that couldn't have prepared me for the state of my floors. Thank goodness for carpet shampooers and some elbow grease. Now- my house isn't quite a temple, but it's our place to enjoy and relax. I like things clean and neat, but I also love that dog!
I've been thinking lately of Jesus when He entered the temple and "threw a fit" (as a good southerner might say). Preceded by cursing a fig tree that didn't produce fruit in its off season, He enters the temple to see it being used for making a profit by some local merchants. This place, expected to uphold the holiness and dignity of a place of worship, had been turned into a "den of thieves". Jesus essentially walked in and said "this doesn't belong here", and began turning over the tables and casting out the money changers.
My body, according to 1 Corinthians 6:19, is a temple of the Holy Spirit. He lives in me, because I belong to Him. If Jesus was angry over things that don't belong in the temple, He has reason to be angry with me. What have I allowed in- and how does it make the Holy Spirit feel? The thing is- I can look like I have it all together on the outside, and be a total mess on the inside. While there was no way for the people to hide from the eyes of others, the filth allowed within the temple walls, it may not be so easy to see inside of me. While I may be able to fool others, God sees straight into my temple.
What mess could use a good cleaning inside of you? Maybe you struggle with pride, pornography, jealousy, or materialism. Maybe you have an addiction or have unconfessed sexual sin. Maybe you are unkind to others in your thoughts. Maybe you have a sharp tongue or a lack of grace toward others. There are so many dust bunnies tumbling around in our temples, and we need to clean them out daily. I don't say this to each of you without acknowledging my own need for some housecleaning. Pride and jealousy come easily for me- so easy, that I am too used to their presence, and don't often realize they are still tumbling around in my temple. And while they seem like regulars in my spirit, they are unwelcome invaders against the Spirit within me.
May I encourage you today to take a few minutes of your time to confess your mess to our Savior? Whatever things you've allowed to dirty up your temple- resolve to remove today. Will it just get dirty again? Likely- because we are human, we will need to practice our temple cleaning on the regular. Just as I would not be comfortable in my own home until that dog mess was removed and cleaned, the Holy Spirit doesn't like living in the mess I allow to junk up His temple. God- open my eyes to the messes I've grown accustomed to, and give me the courage and the help to do some temple cleaning. May my body, Your temple, be a place that glorifies You!
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV)
For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:20 (ESV)
Put to death what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5 (ESV)
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 (ESV)
Dear heavenly Father, help us to keep our temples clean. May our hearts long to remove the things that are contrary to the Spirit within us. Only then can we enjoy complete fellowship with Your Son. In Your name we pray, Amen!
I remember, as a new mom, looking at my son's hands and wondering what their history would be. What would they do? Who would they touch? What would they feel? Would they be loving hands, or hurt others? These were my thoughts as his little fingers gripped mine. Hands physically connect us to others, and his tiny hands were precious to me.
I've always loved my husband's hands. They feel like a man- they tell a story of hard work and care. They fix things, they create, they instruct, and they please. They are much bigger than mine, and my hand felt safe and secure in his. But when I discovered his unfaithfulness, his hands told a story I didn't like. They now included deceit and I wondered many of the same things about them that I had wondered about my son's tiny hands. What had they done? Where had they been? Who had they touched? These thoughts wounded my spirit.
I could choose to get stuck in that negative thought pattern, or I could take a good look at my own hands. What is their history? Who have they hurt? While my hands have often been loving, they have also been unkind. As a kid, these hands hurt my siblings. My hands have touched things they had no business touching. My hands have neglected the needs of others. My hands are also guilty of a less than upstanding history.
This draws me to think of another pair of hands- hands that have scars. These scars tell a story of sacrifice and love beyond comprehension. They were the only hands that have no history of sin, yet they had nails cruelly placed in them. They were hands that healed others, fed the hungry, embraced children, and reached out to any that would come. They never hurt. They were hands that were full of compassion, and they stretched out in love on that cross of Calvary.
I look at my own hands now- dirty with sin, and I am thankful for those scarred hands. For in them, He washes the dirt from mine, and gives me hands that are clean before the Father. While my hands have a history of sin, through His precious sacrifice, they are clean. No matter what they have done, before our Savior, the dirt of sin is washed away with His blood. This helps me to look at the hands of others with new eyes- eyes that see His ability to erase the sin history of our hands, and give us hands willing to serve Him. Thank You Lord, for forgetting the sins of my past, and giving me a future full of grace, and fresh starts.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8 ESV
Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: Lamentations 3:41 ESV
Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD! Psalm 134:2 ESV
Let the favor of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! Psalm 90:17 ESV
Dear Heavenly Father, help my hands to be busy with Your work. Help me to look at my own hands, and what they have done, rather than looking at the hands of others. May my hands be kind, gentle, useful and compassionate. While my history holds disappointment, my future is full of opportunity. May my best days of service start today. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!
