"Safe Harbor's" Daily Inspiration

"And he went into the temple,
and began to cast out them that sold therein,
and them that bought;
Saying unto them,
It is written, MY HOUSE IS THE HOUSE OF PRAYER:
but ye have made it a
DEN OF THIEVES.
Luke 19:45-46

Examine Your Temple

The week preceding Jesus' crucifixion is one of the
busiest recorded in Scripture.
The reason would seem to be that Jesus knew
His time was drawing near.
For this reason, everything He did was for a purpose,
from the riding on the donkey
to the cursing of the fig tree;
from breaking of the bread to the cleansing of the temple.

The Temple of Jerusalem was a major attraction
for visitors.
It was also, unfortunately, a major place of business.
The merchants sanctioned by the temple
abused their business privileges.
They also used special temple currency
which was exchanged at unfair rates.
However, this was only a small part of what upset Jesus.

The temple was divided into several courtyards.
The outermost courtyard was the one
designated for the Gentiles.
They could not go any further into the temple,
so that was their place for prayer.

Here, there was buying and selling,
hordes of people talking,
and animals all over the place, which made it hard
to focus on fellowship with their heavenly Father.
Not only that, but God was being robbed too!

Today, some churches face similar problems.
They have become social centers,
where people gather to be seen and catch up
on the latest news (gossip),
hindering someone in the process,
distracting focus on God.

Now, let's take it the next step
toward personal application.
Are our bodies the "temple of the Holy Spirit?"
Every thing we do with our body,
we do it to God's temple.
Are we robbing Him,
or is our body truly a house of prayer?

May the good Lord examine our temples
and cleanse us of all that distracts us from Him.

Inspired of God