Housecleaning

Do you like to houseclean?  I don't like the actual cleaning but I sure do love the results.  The fresh smell from airing things out, no dust, getting all the cobwebs and dirt out of the corners, everything in its place...I love neatness and order in my house.  I find when things are not tidied up it makes me feel unedge and cranky.  How are you doing with your spiritual housecleaning? Are you checking everyday for dirt and cobwebs?

Sunday morning my Pastor spoke on the church from the passage in John chapter 2:13-17

"And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:  And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen;  and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables:  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence;  make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.  And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up."

In this passage we find the Lord "housecleaning" the temple...God's house.  The temple was not being used to worship the Lord in, instead the world had invaded and it needed to be cleaned out.  Something struck me yesterday morning in church about this passage and I made a comparison to our lives as believers. 

1 Corinthians 3:16 & 17  "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in You?  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy;  for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."

2 Corinthians 6:16  "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God:  as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them;  and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

The Almighty God of Heaven and earth dwells in those who have been saved by the blood of His precious Son, Jesus Christ.  What are we forcing Him to live amongst in our hearts?  Lust, deceit, anger, hatred, bitterness, gossip, back-biting, resentment, envy, discontentment, hard-heartedness, slothfulness, an unforgiving spirit, and the list could go on and on!  What idols are present in our hearts, what things are we placing above God in our lives?  Our jobs, homes, families, prestige, belongings, money, sports, education, again the list could go on and on.  These things are all associated with the "old man", the person we were before we were saved.  These things ought not to be still present in our lives!

2 Corinthians 5:17  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away:  behold, all things are become new." 

The list of things mentioned above is the filth that can still be in the corners of our hearts, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God.  I've often thought, if the Queen were coming to visit at my house everything would be spotless and shining, not one speck of dust would be found and everything would be exactly in the place it should be.  How guilty are we of letting the King of Kings stay in a filthy place?  How much more important is God then the Queen? 

I have found in my own life that if I let one thing just slide by, it's not long before another and then another joins it.  Before long I've fallen into old habits and thought patterns again.  How much easier it would be if I nabbed it when it first appeared.  It's like the spider webs you find in the corners, if you don't get them right away they seem to multiply before your very eyes.  Just as we need to keep up daily with our earthly housecleaning, we must stay on top of our spiritual housecleaning.

So how do we clean the temple of God...our hearts? 

Galatians 5:16  "This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."

Galatians 5:22 - 25  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:  against such there is no law.  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

We need to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh.  We need to be in fellowship with our Heavenly Father.  When we meditate upon His Holy Word and sing praises and glorify His Mighty Name, we will walk in the Spirit.  It's then that the Holy Spirit will show us what we need to get rid of out of our lives, what we are thinking and doing that is not honoring Him.  This is when the fruit of the Spirit will start to show in our lives.  We can do nothing in our own strength.  How can the natural man whom is corrupt want to stop doing what brings pleasure to himself?  Only when our hearts are right with the Lord will our "temples" be a properly clean and beautiful place for Him to reside.

Psalms 19:14  "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer."

I love Thee, Lord Jesus, my Savior divine:

I love Thee, Lord Jesus, I know Thou art mine.

I love Thee, I love Thee, and that Thou dost know;

But how much I love Thee, my actions will show.

 

O Jesus, my Savior, with Thee I am blest,

My life and salvation, my joy and my rest:

Thy name be my theme, and Thy love be my song;

Thy grace shall inspire both my heart and my tongue.

 

I love Thee, Lord Jesus, my heart's dearest Guest;

My Savior and Master, I give Thee my best.

I love Thee for dying on dark Calvary:

I love Thee for showing Thy great love to me.

 

                                          Anonymous