We love remembering that Jesus overturned tables in the temple—especially when we imagine them belonging to someone else. But in Luke 19:45–48 when Jesus drives out those who sold, and declares, “My house shall be a house of prayer,” His challenge isn’t just to those people who annoy us. What might He overturn when our own convenience, usefulness, and preferences begin to define worship?
Most of us pray “thy kingdom come” without stopping to ask whether the kingdom we’re actually building day to day is God’s—or our own. That tension sits at the heart of Matthew 6:10, and Daniel 4 shows just how far God will go to get our attention when we forget who’s really in charge.
How do we come before God when our prayers so easily become empty phrases, desperate demands, or distant formalities? In Matthew 6, Jesus says our Father knows what we need before we ask, then gives His disciples words for approaching Him: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
Our past can feel like the wrong ingredients for a quality life recipe. But the case of the Apostle Paul shows God thinks otherwise. He does not waste our past but uses it as He sends us out as agents of the same transformation we have received.
Are we willing to go into the spaces where people need the love of Jesus so that they can actually experience it?
Most of our days do not feel like turning points in history; they feel like errands, obligations, and familiar routines, leaving us to wonder whether our lives matter in any story beyond our own. Those on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in Acts 2 might have wondered the same thing.
We want to share the life God has for us, but we must be willing to reject our own comfort. It’s not easy, and it sure isn’t comfortable. How do we become bolder about sharing Jesus?
We aren’t called to hold the goodness of God in, but to spread holiness by loving those around us. Even our enemies.
We think “rights” will make things right, but how does that fit being a follower of the One who gave up His rights?
Can we really afford to be meek in a dog eat dog world like ours?