I'm just awake. A lot has happened since August. Good and bad. Life changing and shaping. But at the end of the day its all about what glorifies God the most. I recently heard a sermon from the pastor of the church I attend that I thought reflected well my own life these past few months. The teaching was out of John 2:13-22. Long story short...Jesus comes into the temple with a whip made out of leather and drives out merchants, traders, and loan sharks. In this passage the temple could represent many things I'm sure but when I read this passage I saw the temple representing myself. I'm almost positive its only supposed to represent Christ but this is the best way for me to describe what life since August has been like; an epiphany I had while hearing my pastor speak on this passage.
In basically my own words, my Pastor stated that those in the Temple were using the Temple wrong and “worshiping incorrectly”. He said that our Temples can some times be filled with really messed up things that we worship and sometimes Jesus will come in and literally drive every thing out. He doesn’t do this to make room for the people already using it poorly and destroying it with their selling and trading...he does it to make room for the foreigners who are yet to come. He drove out the bad to make room for the good. To make room for those that were going to use it for why it was really built. I thought that was a pretty cool concept.
This passage has kept creeping its way back into my mind and I haven't been able to let go of ways that I may be 'worshipping incorrectly'. That phrase may sound weird and I don't believe there is only one way to worship the Lord correctly but there sure are a lot of incorrect ways to worship the Lord.
I feel like Jesus really elbows his way into my temple when he exposes to me all of the poison of my own life. I took the example from the Bible literal and maybe some of those people in the Temple didn’t even realize what they were doing was wrong until Jesus showed up. I think Jesus fights his way into my life by flipping all of my tables and driving out everything that once provided a means to an end in sorts. Because I’m such a stubborn person God usually shows up in my life by flipping and breaking everything I have built up so that all I’m left with is a clear picture of what worshiping correctly might look like.
I also heard once that when your body is fighting an infection sometimes your body drives out the sickness and before leaving the body it all comes to the surface. Like fevers, sweat, acne, or bodily soars. So suddenly its exposing everything but all of this exposure is what is actually healing your body. It’s healing because ts being brought to a place where the air, topical medicine, and even sometimes sunlight can finally kill it off. By others seeing these things it makes it clear to them that you’re sick or suffering from something but what most people don’t realize is that your body is actually healing from the inside out. And all they’re witnessing is something that your body recognizes as a threat. A sickness and a poison which used to take up residency deep inside of you and is now finally moving its way out.
So what if the ultimate way of “worshiping correctly,” is how we choose to respond seeing this sickness revealed in others and our selves. Do we choose to love despite this obvious ailment that may even be contagious or do we run and neglect? Even with ourselves?
