365 Ways to Know God by Elmer Towns May 01

365 Ways to Know God by Elmer Towns

(Devotional Readings on the Names of God)

May 1

JESUS: THE ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE

Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those

who reproach You have fallen on me.

PSALM 69:9

Then His disciples remembered that it was written,

“zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”

JOHN 2:17

The disciples remembered Jesus as one with Zeal for God’s House. They observed how Jesus went to the synagogue each Sabbath "as His custom was" (Luke 4: 16). They remembered how Jesus went up to Jerusalem and entered the Temple, as was required of a Jewish male. They remembered how Jesus cleansed the Temple at the beginning (see John 2:13-22) and at the end (see Luke 19:45-46) of His three-year ministry (Luke 19:45, 46). Jesus wanted God's house to be reverent and clean: "My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a 'den of thieves'" (v. 46). Jesus "was teaching daily in the Temple" (v. 47). Why did Jesus have such extraordinary zeal for the Temple? Because the Father was there.

Jesus, I confess that I don’t treat my church as reverently as You

treated God’s house. Forgive my shortcomings. Give me a holy zeal for

God’s house, as You demonstrated on Earth.

When Jesus was on Earth, the Zeal for the Father’s House demanded His loyalty. That's what the phrase "eaten up" means. Does the church you attend demand your loyalty? Do you attend its meetings, and do you give financially to its causes? Jesus felt an obligation to God's house; He was eaten up with its demands. Why? Because God was present there on the day of worship.

Lord, I renew my loyalty to my church. I will fulfill my

obligations to You through my church. Amen.

Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-24

Key Thought: Christ would have You fulfill your obligations to your church.