Today’s Thought “Business Card Distribution at the Church House” G. Ward

 

John 2: ¹⁵ And He made a whip of cords, and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; ¹⁶ and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away from here; stop making My Father’s house a place of business!”

 

Whereas to be forgiven of sin is the goal met unto the believer by Christ, the Passover, commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt (i.e., During the final plague—the death of the Egyptian firstborns—God "passed over" the marked homes of the Israelites, sparing their children.). The temple court would have merchants of sorts taking advantage of a long journeying for the Jews, whereby goods and animals to be sacrificed would be sold, considerate of a light load proposed by many travelling on foot and by beast. Our Lord never suggested this selling shouldn’t exist, but that it would be fair. So, He’d use the whip to encourage animals to vacate those spiritual premises and absolutely shut down abusive selling.

Our spiritual institutions shouldn’t be a place of networking over worship and whereas many are involved in entrepreneurial ventures, worshippers should genuinely embody a total regard to be discipled, extending praise unto the One Redeemer, before blatant introductory ploys of becoming wealthy; for our Lord not being pleased may witness a table or two being overturned.

Lord God, may we all invite ourselves to a periodic evaluation in whether our deeds are integrous or self-centered and may our desire for more be considerably extinguished upon entering the worship space You’ve allowed, that all praise would be Yours, that lends a meditative resilience to stand during the week, learning a spirit of contentment, while absolutely dependent on You in every way and through Jesus, Amen.