Morning Moments

What is said and what is meant is not always the same!


(John 2:19) Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (20) Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? (21) But he spake of the temple of his body. 


(Mark 14:58) We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. 


These two texts are prime examples of having said one thing and meaning another, and having what was said taken to mean something that was not meant.  Let's face it, all of us have had that kind of experience.


Under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John made it clear that Jesus was referring not to that physical temple that Herod had built, but to the physical body in which He, ad God, dwelt.  That body that became a sacrifice for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the "sins of the whole world".


The point here is that what Jesus said, though misunderstood, was used against Him.  But, let's face it, He knew they would do that, and yet, to those to whom He spoke at that time, He made no clarification.  I find that quite interesting.  If fact, I find that Divine!  


How often to we find ourselves defending something we might have said by responding with, "but I did not mean it that way..."  We do that with out intentions, our words, and our works sometimes, but the truth is that God knows, and always knows, the thoughts and intents of our heart.


I think now of the devout young man Jesus spoke with who claimed he knew who his neighbor was, but who did not know where his heart was until Jesus brought him face to face with the reality of it.  He was Doctor of the Law, but did not know that the only thing the Law demanded was the only thing man's religion cannot produce - true love - the love of God in and through man.  It was not the knowledge he lacked, but the heart!  His heart was in the wrong place and Jesus showed him that his heart was in his treasure and that he treasured who he was and what he did.  THAT is the tragedy of it all!


Who I am and what I have do or have done is of no value so far as I am concerned.  What does matter is whether or not my life, my soul, my all REALLY expresses that my treasure is in GOD and not in me.  God has PUT a treasure in me so that I may PLACE my treasure in HIM.  I have this "treasure in an earthen vessel, that the excellency of the power might be of Him and not of me."


So, THIS temple, this body, this vessel in which I live, is decaying!  BUT, it doesn't matter because I am only living in it temporarily anyway.  It is clay!  It is flesh!  It is fading and failing, weakening and winding down, BUT inside - INSIDE, I am being renewed day after day.  I am worshipping not the TEMPLE, which is temporary, but the TREASURE, which is ETERNAL!


May I suggest that we stop seeking to perfect the temple and seek to present the TREASURE!


BLESSINGS!