Day 1: A Monday House Cleaning
Read: Mt. 21:12-13; Mk. 11:15-18.
As the disciples were walking into the Temple, they were impressed with the building (Mk. 13:1). However, Jesus was furious over the scam that was being done on the holy ground through money-exchanging and livestock dealings. According to Paul, we are the Temple of the living God. Thus, we must allow God to do a house cleaning of our hearts.
I believe when we deeply search our hearts we will not only unmask but also clearly see the spiritual disorder. Psalmist said, “Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind” (Ps. 26:2). The psalmist is not only thinking about the two aspects of his life: spiritual and intellectual or emotional and rational. Rather, he offers himself completely for a total examination. We must all ask deep questions of our inner souls:
Why am I not growing spiritually? Why am I so angry or quickly angered? Why am I bitter inside? Why am I not excited for Sunday worship? I worry about money a lot. How do I stop? What do I do with the fear of living alone? I just can’t get close to people. Why do I feel so empty? Where is the abundant life?
We must find the root cause of these questions of our souls, and in order to do so we must look beneath the surface problems to the hidden internal causes. Most people resist doing a self-examination because the deep, inward look is not a natural part of our spiritual life. The reason is simply fear. We fear the unknown, we fear losing control, and we fear facing unpleasant truths about ourselves. You see, until we understand about ourselves and how the word applies to our lives, we have no answers for ourselves and for others.
How important is the inward search of the heart? Listen to what Jesus had to say about it: Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Our Lord promised that those with pure hearts will see God at work. They will see Him in their lives. They will feel His presence. They will walk without fear that someone is going to find out about the real truth. There is nothing to hide. That is the way Jesus lived before all-seeing presence of God. During this Passion Week, let us not misplace our worship of Jesus but may the worship of Jesus be the most sacred passion of our hearts.
Pastor Tae
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