Monday, November 20, 2017

The Pattern of Cleansing of the Inner Temple

UV 2832/10000 The Pattern of Cleansing of the Inner Temple
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves
Matthew 21 v 13

Our bodies and minds and spirits are the veritable temple of the Lord. Our bodies are meant to be dedicated to the Lord for we are created to be a “house of prayer”. Eden was a pleasant place that knew no sin where the two way communication between God and man and between man and woman were meant to be pure and holy, undefiled. But Eden turned into a den when Adam heard and succumbed to the subtle and devious suggestions of the enemy- the fallen angel Lucifer. Stealing or robbing involves taking what does not belong to one and make it his own. Man tried to rob and steal the glory that belonged to God by trying to be what the Lord had not intended. Likewise, we have made our bodies a den of thieves- the enemy of our souls who is a thief, robber and murderer hides in us. Jesus as Redeemer came to cleanse our living temples and take it back for the Father, His Father and our Father and Creator.
When we allow our minds to be obsessed with the things of this world, lust for money, lust for pleasures of the flesh, status, power, competition and struggle for position, we are unwittingly but certainly turned over our bodies and minds to be the den of ‘robbers and thieves.’ Like Jesus, we should be filled with a zeal for the Father’s house- our bodies, our homes, our lives in its entirety. The words of Christ act like a whip driving out the merchants who seek to sell and buy our souls. We are to be filled with godly sorrow, holy anger and the desire to restore our bodies as living temples for the Lord. Unlike the cleansing of the Temple at Jerusalem, our cleansing is not a physical purging but a deep and ongoing sanctification till we get rid of every vestige of commercialisation of our lives, our banal attitudes and feelings that do not belong or behoove those who are the tabernacle or temple of the living God.

The Holy Spirit is the agent who cleanses our inner temple as we submit every aspect of our lives to His examination and purification. Once we are so cleansed, our every communication will become an act of declaration of the glory and grace of the Lord, an act of worship, an act of gratitude, of continual prayer and praise. The den of thieves is restored by the grace of Jesus to being the Eden it was designed to be: we have a face to face communication with the Lord, an ongoing personal and intimate relationship with the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Prateep V Philip

No comments:

Post a Comment