Keeping the Temple of Our Bodies and Minds Clean

UV 3688/10000 Keeping the Temple of Our Bodies and Minds Clean And Jesus entered the temple (grounds) and drove out (with force) all who were buying and selling ( birds and animals for sacrifice) in the temple area, and He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. Matthew 20 v 12 In the new covenant, since the real temple of God is our own bodies and minds, we should have the zeal of Jesus to maintain, preserve our whole being as a sacred space for God. Just as Jesus drove out with unusual force the ones who were commercializing sacrifice and worship in the temple, we should drive out any thought, emotion, motive that tries to profit financially from our faith. God hates those who commercialise the gospel of Jesus and try to make money out of it. Instead, we should consecrate ourselves to the Lord and aim to serve Him wholeheartedly and not with a divided heart, half of it with allegiance to this world and the other half to Him. We need to put to death all our evil desires and make a sacrifice of our old self. For the sacrifice the Lord desires is a spirit of contrition, purity and humility before Him. We should reflect the same ruthless attitude Jesus manifested towards sin and its roots. We should drive out of us every trace of pride, lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye. The word of God is the whiplash that we use to drive out these demons out of us. Jesus used the extreme metaphor that if our right eye caused us to sin, we should gouge it out and throw it away. If our left hand, caused us to sin, we should cut it off. The awe of God and reverence for His holiness should seize our minds and cause us to abhor anything that the Lord dislikes and to give it up, lock, stock and barrel. We should not compromise in the small things for the enemy uses these small compromises to deceive us into something larger and detrimental to our walk with God. Like Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers who were deceived into thinking that they were doing a good thing by helping people donate to the temple, we should overturn the table of the enemy and never deign to dine or consort with him. Of course, at all times we should seek the help and counsel of the Holy Spirit to discern what is amiss in our lives and try to set it right. Cleansing or sanctification is a daily and lifelong process that requires our active cooperation and participation.