Apparent

It is perhaps one of the most incongruous pictures of Jesus that we see in the New Testament. Tables and coins flying as Jesus pushes sellers out of the temple, righteous wrath in His actions to clean out His Father's holy place of worship.

They belonged there. These were those who provided the sacrifices necessary for the Israelites to atone for their sins. Yet they were perverting the system by tipping the scales, adding money to their own pockets and raising prices when unnecessary.

What did Jesus say? He said in the face of their arrogance and defamation of the temple, "My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer."

A house of prayer?

Not a house of worship, of praise, of sermons, of anything else?

No. A house of prayer.

And this point was brought up in chapel a few weeks ago, and it struck a chord within me.

Prayer. It's the foundation of anything and everything we do. It's talking to God, bringing everything before Him, acknowledging His presence in situations, etc.

Our actions are useless if they do not bring others to a state of prayer and glorification of God.

Too often my talents are used for my own glorification. My actions, my words, the way that I dress, the expressions I use, are all so that others think better of me.

But really? Do they bring others to a fuller understanding of who God is by my presence? Am I working on day by day becoming more transparent so that He may become more apparent?

Am I, as His holy temple, a house of prayer?

A house not of rules or large words or actions with no substance, but simple, glowing, purposely life-giving, encouraging, grounded, easy to talk to, worthy to be trusted in, speaking honestly and with words of truth, and most of all... prayerful.