FAITH CAPSULE: As a temple of God, how clean is your inside compared to your outside?

Matthew 23

When it was time for Jesus to clean the temple the bible recorded, “Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,  saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Luke 19:45-46) Cleaning of the temple was not from outside to inside it was from the inside to outside. Evidently, God will never look from outside to inside but rather conducts examination from the inside to the outside.
As a temple of God, how clean is your inside compared to your outside? It is important to know that what you present on the outside world is not as important to God compared to what you carry in the inside. The Pharisees were one of the major sect among the Jews during the days of the New Testament. Pharisees, meaning separated ones, believed that religious rituals and separation from sinners were the way to please God. Matters such as the laws of tithing and ritual purity were very important to the Pharisees. Jesus referred to them as hypocrites. He said in Matthew 23:25, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.” As a temple of God, there is a need to take a close look from the inside to know if you are a Pharisee of the modern day. Are you one of those who want to shine on the outside while the inside is dull and cannot be presented before the Lord? Are you a modern day Pharisees that will offer more than what is requested for the outside while the inside is not being attended to? Interestingly, man can be deceived because man looks from the outside but God cannot be cannot be deceived because He looks from the inside. It does not matter how long you have been getting away with hypocrisy. However, it is important to know that God looks from the inside.
At the time Jesus went into the temple to clean, nothing on the outside could impress Him enough not to start cleaning from the inside. Today, no man’s tile will be enough to impress Jesus. As a believer, do not be deceived by your title. God is only interested with how man engages self, doing that which glorifies His name. A clean temple answers to God’s purpose. After cleaning the temple, Jesus was able to teach and get the attention of the people in the temple. After cleaning the temple, the temple became a house of prayer and it no longer answer as a den of thieves. Make yourself available for Jesus to clean you.

Prayer for today: Ask God to cleanse you and make you become a house of prayer.