Holy Week DevotionalUzorak

Holy week kicked off on Monday with Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, but today is when Jesus went to visit the temple. The temple was the central place of worship in the city, created for the people to worship and sacrifice. But what does Jesus see when He walks in? He sees people gambling, selling and buying goods! How does Jesus respond? The Bible says he began driving out those who were dealing in the temple, overturning tables, and wouldn't allow anyone with merchandise to walk through the temple courts. We see Jesus is upset, but why? Because, the temple was transformed from a place of prayer and reverence into a place used to make profits. Here we see the intensity of Jesus, but this doesn’t seem like the Jesus we’ve learned about in Sunday school, but it shows us his passion for purity.

God wants the same from our lives. The Bible tells us that our bodies are not our own, and that we were bought at a price. This means we need to honor God with our bodies. The temple, or our church, isn’t just a building that God resides in, it’s our lives! When we receive Christ as our savior, he lives in us. When he comes in, we need to remind ourselves that He is still in the business of cleaning up the temple.

You were created for something incredible and with great purpose! We are made for worship, sacrifice, and to do something great for God! But, sometimes we use our own lives and spend it on insignificant things. But what would happen if Jesus walked into your life today - what would he cleanse? Maybe it’s an attitude, or bad habits. If we’re honest, we all have things that we need Jesus to clean up in our lives.

But there’s good news! He never does anything to condemn or shame us, he does it to change us. He had a purpose for his response in the temple and now he has a purpose for your life.

Today as you pray: invite the Holy Spirit in today to cleanse your life, flip over some tables and get rid of everything that’s keeping you from fully living for God.