Mark 11: 15-19- Reverence

Read Mark 11: 15-19- 

Jesus wanted the temple that had been dedicated to God to be respected. The religious leaders of the time had allowed the process of sacrifice for sin to become big business around the temple. It was more business than it was a spiritual review of their souls. In verse 17 we read, ‘Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations?’, but you have made it a den of thieves.”’ 

There are churches today in our society that have bookstores within them. This is done to provide Christian books and paraphernalia for Christians. This is not similar to what was going on around the temple. The religious leaders were taking animals brought by those wanting to sacrifice them for their sins and then routing those animals back to an area where they could be bought by people who did not have an animal for sacrifice. The religious leaders were swindling the people coming to do what they were instructed was required of them for their religious lives. 

We do need to be careful in our churches today to be careful about the sacred nature of the place and not regard it with reverence for God. We need to be careful about allowing behavior to become too casual as we worship Jesus. 

Proverbs 10: 10-11- (10) He who winks with the eye causes trouble, but a prating fool will fall. (11) The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.  

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