Cleaning Up Our Houses

This week we are looking at devotions to prepare our hearts and minds for Resurrection Sunday, and as we looked at God’s great love for all (including the lost) yesterday, today we want to do more self-reflection.

After Jesus entered Jerusalem, and wept for the lost, He proceeded to go into the temple courts to drive out that which shouldn’t have been there. The religious leaders had allowed things into the courts of the Lord which didn’t belong, and Jesus did His part to remove them.

God’s word says that we are God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16-17, 6:19), for His Holy Spirit lives in us.

In this, we need to reflect on the condition of His temple, our bodies, to see if we have allowed for things to be in there that shouldn’t be.

Yesterday’s readings in the Psalms (15-19), if you are doing the Bible reading in two years with us, helps us to see what should be expected. Psalm 15 gives us a great list of expectations of those who seek to live godly lives, and Psalm 19 really caps things in the final couple of verses (verses 13-14), where the desire is for the Lord to help us keep away from “willful sins.”

“Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me, then i will be blameless and cleansed from blatant rebellion. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

Psa. 19:13-14 CSB

Are there things you have allowed to creep into your house (literally and figuratively) that would keep you from an intimate relationship with Jesus? Have you allowed “willful sins” in that would move you towards blatant rebellion?

King David, a man after God’s own heart, allowed himself to commit adultery and murder, and it started with one small step… staying home when he should have been at battle.

Have you opened the door, even slightly, to allow yourself to drift away from God? If so, today is a great day to gain freedom over your life by cleaning house. Ask the Lord to reveal those things to you, and to help you remove them, that you might live a holy and righteous life.

Lord, we confess that when we take our eyes off of you, even for a second, we allow things into our house (Your temple) that don’t belong. Cleanse us, O Lord, that our words, and hearts, might be acceptable to You our God!