Let Jesus Drive out the “Den of Thieves” in Your Life

Matthew 21:12-13 (PHILLIPS)

^12-13 Then Jesus went into the Temple and drove out all the buyers and sellers there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those who sold doves, crying— “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’. But you have turned it into a ‘den of thieves!’”

The story of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers and those who sold doves in the temple is well-known to most believers.  He did it because the people doing those things were keeping the temple from its primary purpose – being a place to glorify God through fellowshipping with Him through prayer.

A well-known minister of the gospel recently discussed that story and how it has application to our lives.  We are a three-part being – spirit, soul and body. Our spirit connects to God. Our soul is our mind, will and emotions. Our body is our physical being.  When we became born-again, after accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord, our spirit became, “just like Jesus.”  Our spirit was reborn to absolute perfection. That instantaneous change did not occur, however, in our soul and body; the changes in those two areas occur progressively as we give ourselves to God’s Word. It is an ongoing process.  Therefore, our body and soul are still subject to the negative influences of this world.

I Corinthians 3:16 tells us that our bodies are considered to be the temple of God.  When those negative influences of the world take root in our soul and keep us from receiving all God wants us to have, they turn our temple into a “den of thieves.”  While the judgment for our sins – past, present and future – was borne by Jesus on the Cross, residual effects can remain in the soulish realm that steal from us, by hindering our ability to enjoy the fullness of our relationship with Christ.  

What are some of the thieves at work in our lives? It can be any sin or weight (not a sin but something that comes before/interferes with our relationship with Jesus). For instance, there may be a situation which required a person to forgive another. That person may have made the decision to forgive, but still struggles with emotions that cause him to wonder, if indeed, forgiveness was given.  Another example would be a person who was wounded in his childhood, rebelled in his teenage years, then received Jesus as Savior and Lord in early adulthood.  He knows his sins are forgiven but struggles in his relationship with Jesus because he has not dealt with the wounds that resulted in the rebellion in his teenage years. In both examples, condemnation sets in causing these people to shrink back from intimacy with Jesus.

The good news is that the same Jesus Who drove out the money changers and those who sold doves in the temple is still protecting God’s temple today. How does that occur in our lives? By letting GRACE do its amazing work.  We keep our focus on Jesus and in doing that He will reveal the hindrances through Holy Spirit.  He will do it in His timing – when we are ready and emotionally able to deal with the issue/ issues hindering us.  Jesus already sees us as temples which glorify God; He stands ready to clear out the “den of thieves” in our lives so that we, too, can see what He sees! 

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