JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF THE SON (Series)
-through the eyes of John
John 2:14-17
“Clean House”
Joh 2:14 In the Temple area He saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; He also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers' coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, He told them, 'Get these things out of here. Stop turning My Father's house into a marketplace!' Then His disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: 'Passion for God's house will consume Me.'
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of God. We have sold our house to Christ upon salvation, He is now the owner, and has all rights over everything we once owned. Our God is a holy God, and He wants His house to be clean, pure, and spotless. His house represents Him.
The question we must ask ourselves is our house more like a marketplace or the temple of God.? A marketplace has buyers and sellers coming in and out, people trying to take advantage of one another, consumers looking for the best offer. Meaning we are moved more by man than our heavenly Father. It is people and their needs that consume our time rather than being in His presence. We fill our house with the idols of this world, rather than the God that made all things.
God is a jealous God. He wants us all to Himself, and He will allow us to go through whatever it takes for us to realize that all we need is Him. The way that our Father cleanses us is through surrender. Unlike our parents He won’t make us clean house, He will allow us to go through situations that will make us want to be clean, but it is our free will that must choose to be clean. When we are going through a challenge we need to recognize that God is at work, and acknowledge Him in the situation, He will now inform us where the dirt is in our heart, and we can now surrender it to Him. Is it that easy? Yes! It is only tough for those that continue to resist His nudging and allow the dirt to pile up and pile up.
We have all cleaned a room and discovered things we forgot we had. As we allow God to clean us, we rediscover lost dreams, hidden potential, and creativity we never knew we had. We must begin to hate dirt, and therefore not let it pile up, we live in a dirty world and can’t help get a little dirty, the thing is how often do we bathe, meaning allow God to search our hearts, and have time of surrender. I can’t stand to go to bed without bathing, we must be the same, we can’t stand living with sin, doubt, worry, and fears in our heart. When we have a clean house, car, bedroom, etc., we feel good, it gives us more worth and value. How much more should we want to be clean from within?
The more we allow God to cleanse us, the more He is seen through us. It is time we don’t just watch the show “Clean House”, but that we become God’s clean house. When a house is dirty it is easy to trip over stuff, we have been trippin for too long. What we allow in us that is not of Him will eventually trip us up. We must allow God daily access to His house to cleanse us, so that we can remain continually filled with Him, and represent Him right for the whole world to see.