FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Street Hero”

A few years ago, my husband bought me a diffuser for my birthday.  I was so excited!  You add water and a few drops of yummy scented oils, and the gizmo shoots out an ultra fine mist of wonderfully-smelling vapor that fills the whole room.  I put it on my nightstand that first night and drifted off to the scent of lavender.  I loved it!  I was so excited to try something else the next day, so I rinsed it out and put in clean water and new oil.  But when I turned it on, nothing happened.  I could hear it running, but there was no mist and no yummy smells coming from the opening.  I was distraught!  I checked the power cord, the water levels, I even emptied it and tried filling it again.  Nothing.  So I looked in the little handbook.  Apparently once all of the water is vaporized, the little bit of residual oil covers the sensor inside and keeps it from working properly.  You need to wipe off the sensor between each use to get rid of the thin, invisible layer of oil.  Once I did that, it worked like a charm.

I am always amazed at how much different a little dirt can make when it comes to operations.  A little grit between the points of a battery will shut down your favorite toy.  Some hairspray residue can clog up the whole spray can.  And if you don’t clean off your phone regularly, eventually the grease from your face turns your touch screen into a “won’t do anything” screen.  To keep functioning, it looks like we need to keep cleaning.

Jesus saw a place that needed some cleaning, too.  Read John 2:13-22 together.  Now let me give you a little background here. Passover was a time when Jewish people from all over would come to Jerusalem to offer up sacrifices of praise and worship to God. It was a special time to remember God's grace in delivering them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, and it was custom for the Jewish people to attend this great festival. So Jesus, being Jewish, went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

In the temple courts, merchants would sell animals for people to use for their sacrifice.  Many people traveled long distances and couldn’t bring sacrificial animals with them.  So these merchants took advantage of the need and sold these animals at an incredibly high price.  Money corrupted these merchants, and the temple courts became a place where money was worshipped more then God. The people were not only forced to buy sacrificial animals at ridiculous prices; they were also forced to pay certain, very high, temple dues or taxes. The merchants were taking advantage of all the people who truly wanted to worship God. In addition, the temple also had its own special money or currency, and in order for the people to purchase the animal sacrifices, they had to “exchange” their money for temple money. The moneychangers were not fair when they exchanged money for the people. They kept back some of the money for themselves. These merchants and moneychangers had turned God's house into a common marketplace where God-loving worshipers were taken advantage of so someone else could make more money.  Can you imagine showing up at a church and being told you had to buy a special Bible before you could go in, plus you had to pay a really high entrance fee, but before you could do any of that, you had to trade your money for special church money that wasn’t worth as much?  I’m guessing you wouldn’t be going back to that church!

It shouldn’t surprise us how much that bothered Jesus!  So He made a whip with some rope and drove out the people, the sheep, the oxen, and the moneychangers. Jesus demonstrated “righteous anger” in the way he dealt with them. They were misrepresenting God by using His house to cheat and steal from people.  Money had become more important than helping others worship God.  Take a look at what Paul had to say on the topic:  “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”  (1 Timothy 6:10)

Jesus does not want us to be so concerned about money that it takes our minds off Him. In fact, He doesn’t want anything to stand in the way of our relationship with Him. It could be money, friends, TV, music, sports, video games, or something else that we prioritize more than Jesus.  These things aren’t bad in themselves, but anything that interferes with our relationship with God or takes our minds off him is an idol.  The Holy Spirit wants to come in and clean our hearts, wiping away the residue from these other things and giving us a clear connection with Jesus.

Is there something in your life or in your family’s life that’s getting more attention than Jesus right now?  Is there anything that’s interfering with your relationship with Him?  Maybe it’s taking so much time, you don’t have any left for God.  Maybe your whole family calendar starts to revolve around this other thing, and Jesus gets set to the side for the season.  We don’t want Jesus to make a whip, but we do want to invite Him in to clean out anything that’s clogging up our relationship.  We can have such wonderful peace when Jesus is sitting the throne of our heart, leading, guiding, and strengthening us for His good purpose.

As you seek God in prayer, ask him to open your eyes to anything in your family that’s getting in the way of your relationship with him.  Confess any idols you may have and seek his help in cleaning out those other priorities.  

Parts of this blog post come from Valley Christian Church at http://storage.cloversites.com/valleychristianchurch1/documents/CURNT217.pdf.