Passion Week is a great time to reflect on the love of Jesus. As we prepare for Easter (Resurrection Sunday), we should pause to examine our own hearts. It is far too easy to focus on how God is using us and fail to pause and examine how God is working on us. Both are important and perhaps the latter more than the former.
On Monday of Passion Week, we find Jesus cleansing the temple. Why clean house when you know that you are about to renovate the house. Jesus walks in the temple in Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, and Luke 19:45-48 and starts turning over tables and running people out. Why? He was passionate about the representation of God the Father to people and people understanding of God. Jesus was passionate about God’s standard of Holiness being represented rightly. God the Father had been misrepresented and Jesus had to respond. Holiness is both passive and active. It is passive in that is a work God does in the life of His children. It is active in that we must be willing to yield to that work. To be more specific, God will point out areas we are not like Him, to help us become more like Him. How are you doing with allowing the Lord to cleanse you? As we prepare for Easter, let’s do that by starting from the inside. How is your heart towards God? How is your heart towards others? Is there someone you need to forgive? Is there someone you need to ask forgiveness from? Passion week is also about God cleaning house, and it starts from the inside.
