A House Of Prayer
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”
Matthew 21:12–13 (NKJV)
The money changers in the temple were crooked. The only offering you could give was the temple shekel, any other currency was not accepted. So they charged them absurd prices to exchange their money to make a profit and split it with the priest. They also sold doves with a seal from the priest for an inflated price.
You could buy a dove on the street for 25 cents and the temple offered it for 5 dollars because it was kosher. But then if you bought a dove from the street without a little seal, the priest would find a blemish and wouldn’t accept it as an offering for God. Jesus was very upset with this. Doesn’t it make you upset when people try to make a profit and design schemes of people’s desire to worship God?
A church can never be seen as a business. It is His church and what we do needs to align with His character. The money changers and the priests did their job as many ambitious pastors do these days. It is the heart that is behind the actions that the Lord looks at, and in what spirit we serve the Lord. What are your motives?
“My house shall be called a house of prayer.” Prayer is the channel that God wants us to have a relationship through. He treasures our relationship more than sacrifice. We read in Revelations that He keeps our prayers in golden bowls, that’s how important they are for Him. What a wonderful God we serve, He loves you so much!
