{"id":25331,"date":"2019-03-20T03:30:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T10:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=25331"},"modified":"2019-03-14T14:22:01","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T21:22:01","slug":"march-20-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2019\/03\/20\/march-20-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"March 20, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWhen 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\u2019 money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, \u2018Take these things away! Do not make My Father\u2019s house a house of merchandise!\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/em>John 2:15-16<\/p>\n

House Cleaning<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Springtime! Whatever the weather may be, the calendar tells us spring is here today. So many of us are ready for warm breezes through open windows, prompting us to wash glass and screens, blinds and curtains. Friends will be coming to our home for summer parties, and family will stop by on their vacation, so we deep clean our rooms. Our yard grasses are tall and the weeds aplenty, so we get busy outside in the sunshine to wake things up after the winter sleep.<\/p>\n

This is a lot of work! Some people don\u2019t want the bother. They really are fine with things as they are, as they have been. Once, long ago, they saw the mess, the dirt, the dust, creeping in; but when it literally took over, they didn\u2019t notice.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this was how it was when Jesus cleansed the temple, in today\u2019s Scripture. The religious leaders had read the Law, declared certain things were necessary, and began to make big money off providing what the people were required to give as a sacrifice. Of course, Jesus knew that in a very short while He would give Himself as the only worthy sacrifice, the last sacrifice needed.<\/p>\n

He had such zeal for His Father\u2019s house that He could not bear the merchandising of what should be holy. In a flurry of indignation and power, He drove them all out. \u201cIt is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(Hebrews 10:31).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s application for our own lives: If Jesus was zealous to drive sin out of His Father\u2019s house, shouldn\u2019t we view the sin in our own lives (the temple or dwelling place or \u201chouse\u201d of God) as equally needing to be driven out? Shouldn\u2019t we zealously guard the purity of our bodies, attacking the sins that so easily beset us? Are we waiting for Jesus to come with fury and judgment and drive the sin from us?<\/p>\n

Or can we get going right now, in this very season we find ourselves, identifying the sins in our life, climbing up out of our complacency and ignorance, and start confessing and repenting?<\/p>\n

If we think we don\u2019t have sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8). Let\u2019s all pray that the Spirit would convict and cleanse our hearts, renew our spirit, transform our minds. A clean house really does matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cFather, we want to maintain a clean dwelling place for You. Show us what we\u00a0<\/strong>can do, and show us what only You\u00a0<\/strong>can do. You have given us our cleaning tools in Your Word\u2014now train us how to use them. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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