Sunday devotion 2/21/21

The Fervent Believer

Psalm 69v9..”Because zeal for Your house has eaten Me up..” John 2v15-17..”When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the Temple..Then His disciples remembered that it was written,”Zeal for My Father’s house has consumed Me!”..”
Jesus, when He returned to Jerusalem for the last time, right before Passover, did a curious thing..He went to the Temple in the evening when no one else was around. Mark10v11..”And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the Temple. So when He had looked around AT ALL THINGS, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve..” I wonder what He was looking for. As God the Son, He had every right to inspect it. Perhaps, He was just looking at the Temple as it ought to be. Peaceful, a place of worship and reverence. A place of sacrifice and prayer, separate from worldly influence.
When He comes the next morning, He sees the Temple being used in an immoral way. People are exchanging money for foreigners to be able to purchase sacrificial animals. Sheep, doves and even some cattle are milling around. Salesmen are shouting out prices and trading there. Animals are leaving their filth inside the Temples outer court and Jesus is overcome with furious indignation. Zeal for His Father’s house consumes Him, and in righteous judgement, He gives to those blasphemous rebels exactly what they’re due, Condemnation and the whip! Mk.11:15
There is a time and place for this kind of outburst. Whenever God’s house is misused, His people should be zealous for it’s proper care..They shouldn’t allow for false teaching or rebellious actions to take place in His sanctuary. It should be a place of holiness, where men can seek God and worship Him in a proper way.
True Biblical zeal can be a hard spiritual thing to put your finger on. Saul was very zealous before he met Christ on the Damascus road, but He was causing “Havoc” among those of “The Way”. Acts 8v3. He thought he was doing God a favor by persecuting those that sought after Christ. His zeal was sincere, just misplaced. Then there is the other side of the issue..Lukewarmness or a lack of zeal, as in Rev. 3v14-22. A faith that has no moorings and is neither hot nor cold. God is looking for appropriate, perfect zeal among His people.
Romans 12v1-21 gives us an excellent measure of Christian zeal. “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” V9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good..” If we can apply this whole chapter to our lives, we will be ready for any situation...Either within the body of Christ or in the world. We must be “Zealous for every good work”!
A zealous person will be a person of action. They will desire to see people saved and brought into the Kingdom of God. They will be disgusted by sin in their own person and in their nation. And, they will desire to seek after a continually closer relationship with the Father and His Son. May zeal for our Father’s house consume us too!
Pray..Father, may this be spoken of me, Zeal for You and Your house consumes me. Give me a renewed desire for You and Your word. Reveal to me the things that keep me at a distance from You. And draw me nearer, Precious Lord, to Thee..In Jesus name..Amen