Keeping God's temple clean.

     As many things in the Bible this saying can have a couple of meanings. It can refer to the temple that is built or the temple that is ourselves. In Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus came to the temple and drove out everything that was not suppose to be going on. This is the exact thing that we are suppose to do with our lives! This was not the first time that Jesus did this in the Bible. Three years earlier he drove merchants out for the same reason. (John 2:13-17) In both cases Jesus was mad at the merchants for their blatant misuse of the temple of God. Even though they were selling cattle, sheep and doves for sacrifice it was just not the right place for that to be happening. So just like the temple in Jerusalem we all have a church but we also have ourselves. Yes we are a temple for the lord!! So this also begs the question does your temple need cleaning?
      You can only do so much for the physical temple so lets talk about the temple you can get right, yourself. Your body is exactly that a temple for the Holy Spirit who you have received through God himself. The Holy Spirit gives us power and strength so that we can deal with the power of sin that is in our lives. See no matter how hard we try no physical structure can hold the great overpowering awesomeness of God only the body can. When we talk about a temple it is not the physical structure but the all the people in it coming together. When we all come together and follow like we are suppose to anything is possible and God will not let anything destroy us. (1 Corinthians 3:17) As a temple for the lord it needs to be used in service to God. We need to renew our mind and make our lives a living sacrifice in service to our lord.  We all have been there, set our sites on the world based things instead of putting all that we have into what we are suppose to do, what the lord has called us to do. See we are all inherently sinful, ever wanted that new TV? car? house? video game? All these things distract us from what we are suppose to do and that is to serve God with everything that we can and if we don't keep our lives in the right direction we won't mature into what God has planned. (Luke 8:14)
    So is your temple clean? Are you doing what God has called you to do? Or are you like most of us and need a little spring cleaning? Well this has been made very straight forward from this little book we call the Bible. Just like Jesus cleaned the temples he can also clean our temple today. See first we have to clean from the inside out. If you don't do it this way you will not last amongst the worldly pleasures. You can clean anything from the outside but if the inside is not clean it will eventually come out. (Matthew 23:25-26) He died for our sins that his blood would clean and purify us so that we can walk in the light like he does.  For the christian we can do this through obedience and faith that when we do his will he will come to us and love us. (John 14:21) For non-Christians this starts with baptism which unites us with him. (Romans 6:3-4) This is the cleansing that all of us needs. Think of it just like changing clothes, all of your sins were in your old clothes and you put on the new clean never been touched clothes. (Galatians 3:26-27) We must repent of our sins and pray that the Lord just take our lives for his service. With Christ backing us up anything is possible where before we were held back by the world. There are no boundaries and endless power even when you don't think you can go any farther he will be that assistance that we need.
    We depend on Christ for our cleansing but we just can't sit there and wait for stuff to happen we have to cleanse ourselves by going to him. With that being said and we feel like we are cleansed we need to keep moving towards the light that is him. every time we trip up we get on our knees and pray, ask for forgiveness and get going again. None of us will ever be perfect because there was only one that was, but we can always strive to be like him!!
    So in conclusion is your temple clean? Does it embody what Christ would want in a follower? Is it a rock in where he might stand that he might speak through you to the people around you? Have you allowed the pleasures of this life to get you off track to what God has called you to do?  The awesome thing is if you do need a little cleaning Jesus is the only on who can provide this to you and will also provide you the will and power to keep going after you are cleaned up. I challenge you today not just to clean your temple and keep going with your normal routine. That you fill your lives with prayer and godliness so you will stay on the straight and narrow on the road that God called you on.
   

Are you acting like your father?

As Christians we try to do the right thing but more times than we might want the flesh makes our mind up about it. We can not let our flesh get in the way of doing what GOD wants! It is very clear in the bible of what we are and aren't to do.
  If someone is doing something wrong to you do not resist them, just take which they did and do good to them. (Mat 5:39-42) Usually when a problem comes from another Christian we can normally shrug it off but when it comes from an enemy it is a lot harder.
Not only are we suppose to love our enemy, if they are down we help them up. If they need food or water we are not suppose to hesitate but act. (Prov 25:21-22). On top of doing these things we are suppose to pray for them, and I don't mean you just pray about them but pray for them, their families and salvation. 
   As always with a world based response the first thing we want to do is either something against that person or not to help the person.  Instead we need to do all we can to help that person. In Mat 5:45 he says that he send the rain out on the righteous and unrighteous. As Christians when it rains in our lives we have at least one person that we can go to and talk but who do our enemy have? Do you think your enemy would rather go to you if you are acting like Christ or the world. What a better time to talk about the word than with someone who has done you wrong but sees you doing the right thing.
  So I challenge you today, from the smallest of things to the rain that will pour down on each one of our lives which one are you. Are you acting like your father wants you to or does the world have a better grip than you thought it had?
  Does the things that happen in your life provoke a world based response or a GOD based response?