Zeal

I was reading in John's gospel this morning. In the second chapter, Jesus goes to clean out the Temple. The people have turned the Temple into a house of trade, a commercial zone instead of a house of prayer. So Jesus overturns tables and throws people out and pours money onto the floor. I found verse 17 to be fascinating: the disciples remember an Old Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah -- "Zeal for your house will consume me."

There is one thought that I haven't been able to get out of my head: if Jesus came to church today and exhibited the same zeal as He did on that day, what would He want to remove from the church? The commercial zone in the Temple was serving as a buffer that prevented people from being able to worship God. What have we created that serves as a buffer to keep people from worshipping God? Legalism (rules that we create that are not in the Bible)? Tradition (methods that worked in the past that need to change if we are going to introduce the next generation to God)?

My prayer today is that I will have a zeal for God that will demonstrate itself with a passion to remove everything in my life (and in the life of FBC Prescott) that serves as a buffer to keep people away from God.