Jesus Revealed Series - Jesus, Real Life Begins With HimSample

Why Jesus cleaned the Temple  

Thoughts on the Passage

Signs from God.

The Jewish people ask Jesus to give them some reason to believe that God gave Him the authority to clean the temple. Jesus took a bold step and they wanted to understand what right He had to do such a thing. It is a valid question (even if it may have come from people who weren't happy with Him).

So Jesus gives them a sign – and they misunderstand it!! There is something to be learned here. We ask God for understanding. He tells us things – and we do not think He has answered our question. So we ignore what He said. In reality, He answered, but it takes time and faith to understand. Most signs from God are that way. They take time – He wants to see who will hold tightly to what He said. It takes faith – we need a measure of spiritual insight from God. We see that Jesus’ disciples did both – and the people asking the question did neither.

Another thought: Jesus did not just share deeply with people – He knew the hearts of people.  Jesus wants to share deeply with people – this is what we see in Revelation 3:20. So, what stops us from getting this intimate understanding of Jesus? There are many things – here are a few: 

1. We do not really want Him into our inner heart – because He will see things we do not want exposed; we want Him to come, but not too close.

2. We do not want Him to take too much of our time. He wants to come and enjoy time with us – we have too much going on in our lives, Jesus is added to it and that is not what He wants. 

3. We want Him “over for coffee” – He wants to have a wonderful meal. He will even bring the food! Meals take a long time – to prepare, to serve, to enjoy and to clean up. That is what Jesus wants – do we want that?

When You ask Him for things today – will you take the time to stop and invite Him in for a meal?

Application

Stop today and just take some time with Jesus. Turn the phone on silent for an hour. Book an hour with Jesus and just enjoy His presence.

Time to Pray

Father, this pokes me very hard today. I am running a bit late, so there is not much time to just sit and welcome You into my day. I ask for things…. I pray for understanding because I face things I do not know how to deal with…. I rush through and wonder today if I missed something really important – Jesus. Did I miss the meal that You brought over for me because I did not want to take the time and just relax with You? I think I did. So right now I calm my spirit, I free up some time on my schedule – and I invite You in to share with me. Come on in…. In Jesus’ name, Amen.