“In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables” (John 2:14-15).

So, what are you cleaning this week? Your house? Your dishes? Your teeth? So many things in life become a mess so quickly that a task common to each of us is cleaning.

Jesus had to do some cleaning too. Not because he had made a mess, but because of the mess created by others. The people had turned the temple, God’s house, into a regular market. Why? Finally, isn’t it because they just didn’t care? They just didn’t care that this was God’s house and the place to give God their hearts and their best.

Scripture actually calls our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit. How do we use our bodies? What we use our bodies to say, think, or do finally stems from our hearts. If, in our hearts we don’t care, our words, thoughts, and actions will show it. For example, if greed resides in my heart, it will show in my thoughts, words, and actions. If anger resides in my heart, it will show itself in my thoughts, words, and actions. How clean is your temple? What does Jesus want to clean out of you today? Out of me?

Yep, if we’re honest with ourselves, our hearts need a lot of cleaning. But that’s exactly why Jesus came. Jesus came to do a far greater cleaning than clearing animals out of the temple. Jesus came to do the greatest cleaning…on a cross. There on Jesus’ cross God swept up all your sins, all your filth, all your dirtiness and nailed it to Jesus’ cross and buried it in Jesus’ tomb. It’s gone! In Jesus you’re washed, you’re purified, you’re clean!

The filth of sin has no right in your heart. Leave it with Jesus on the cross and live as God’s cleansed and forgiven child!

Clean in Jesus, just like you,

pastor