Part I of a new Christmas Series of Messages
A Devotional by Eric S. Reamer
Passage: Matt 21:12-13 (KJV)
"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."
Bargain Hunting Before Breakfast
Last year, I did something I have never done before. I actually got up well before dawn, on the day after Thanksgiving, and together with my wife, went down to the local WalMart for the "super sale" that marks the opening of the "Christmas shopping season".
My friends... I now have a completely new understanding of the word, "obsessed"!
Even in our little, sleepy bedroom community of Sterling, CO - thousands of people decided to do the same thing - all at the same time - and since WalMart is really the only place to go in our little town - they all decided to go to the same place! In fact, if you ask me - they were ALL jam-packed into the aisles that make up either the toy section, or the electronic department... and just GUESS where *I* was??
Now - I normally consider myself a "social" person. It kind of goes along with my job description, you know? But in this case, we're talking about hours before sane people should even be awake... and WAY before I had my first cup of coffee! I had to "introduce" myself to far too many people, just to make it from one side of the aisle, to the other! And God forbid I reach for the *last* of any particular item - it was like guerilla warfare out there!
People were hauling around 2, and sometimes as many as 4 shopping carts... literally tied together, and stuffed completely full of every imaginable retail item under the sun. There were desktop computers in the majority of carts (I know, because those people all got there at 4:00 am, and placed them in the carts so law abiding citizens like myself, who arrived at the moment the sale went into effect, didn't have any computers to buy! Grrr!). There were televisions, and stereos, and Batman cars and microwaves (we got one of those!), and oh so many clothes... all filling up each cart - and then there was the "holiday cheer"...
Of all the things I saw out there -- one of the things I missed the most was the smiles on people's faces. (Of course - they probably hadn't had their coffee, either!) Darwin would have been proud as his theory of "survival of the fittest" seemed to be the order of the day.
I found myself asking, "are we done yet?" about every 10 minutes, and discovered a huge sense of relief when we finally drove away from our bargain hunter's bonanza.
And then I wondered... is this how Jesus felt? When He discovered the moneychangers in the temple - and saw how materialism had taken a higher place than the truly important things - the things of God... did he start asking Himself, "are we done yet"?
Oh, I know. When Jesus ran off the moneychangers, the point of His doing that was far different than the type of thing that takes place at your local WalMart. Or was it?
I believe that Jesus became extremely frustrated with His creation (again), when everything He had said and done in his ministry was rapidly coming to a conclusion - a conclusion which He knew included the laying down of His life. The entire history of mankind had been leading up to this point in time - the time in which the God of the universe would finally provide the way of reconciliation, once and for all, for His creation.
Jesus was in the mindset of, "being about His Father's business"... which was spiritual in nature. And then there were the moneychangers in the temple. These people were of an entirely different mindset! They were all about dollars and cents (translate for the currency of the day)... and there was a frenzy of "materialism" going on - even back before Uncle Sam Walton.
And make no bones about it - the "moneychangers" (i.e. merchants) were not the only ones at fault! No, it stands to reason that if the moneychangers were there - it was only because the people were buying... and buying in enough volume to make the location profitable. It is the customer that drives a sales industry... and they (we) are equally to blame for the focus on materialism.
My friends - as we draw nearer and nearer to the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus... let us remember to maintain some element of focus on the real reason we love this time of year. It's not because we saved $10 on that VCR, or because we were able to negotiate the purchase of that way overpriced "Tickle Me Elmo". At least, it shouldn't be for those reasons.
Rather, we celebrate the gift of God's love for us... brought to us in the form of the birth of His only Son, Jesus. Because Jesus wasn't swayed into the spirit of materialsm... but because he maintained His focus on the task before Him... and through His obedience, we celebrate the fact that we all might call upon the name of Christ, and be saved!
Prayer: Father, thank you for the lessons that can be learned from the observation one can make of human behavior. Please forgive us if we have allowed our focus to be blurred, or deterred for any reason. Help us to fix our eyes upon the author, and finisher of our faith... Christ, the Lord. And above all else, Lord - thank you for loving us so much that you gave us the gift of your Son, Jesus! We readily accept the sacrifice that Jesus made, and receive Him as our Lord and Savior. This I pray in His name - the name of Jesus. Amen!
Click here to go on to Part II of this Christmas series, "Breakdown Blues"
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Eric Reamer is an evangelist, and full time Christian Illusionist. If you enjoy this devotional, please e-mail Eric at: Eric@IllustratedIllusions.com.
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