Set Free

Jesus enters the temple area. Church. There are doves in cages being sold as sacrifices. People are switching out money for customers, and those customers are hustling about. Busy. Loud. Chaos. Jesus drives out the cashiers and customers. I picture Him screaming over the commotion, toppling tables, dumping over cages, grabbing dove cages out of customers' hands, and throwing them to the ground.

Maybe the temple quieted, or maybe Jesus yelled over the noise as people hurried to the exit. Either way, Jesus taught them, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers.' " (The story in the Bible is found in Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, and Luke 19:45-46.)

Two things stood out to me as I read this through recently. The doves. And Jesus.

The doves were headed to death as a sacrifice. They were caged. Trapped. Like me. Headed to death without Jesus' intervention to pay the consequence and penalty of my sin. Like me, snared in bondage to sin.

As Jesus threw the cages to the ground and dumped over the tables, maybe the cages broke open, releasing the doves. Freedom instead of bondage. Mercy instead of sacrifice. Life instead of death. Jesus' death was the sacrifice so the doves could be set free. Freedom for the captives; release from darkness for the prisoners.

I've been set free, but sometimes clutter fills up my table. I wonder if I need to topple the coffee table in my own living room like Jesus did in the temple.
Recently, I've overturned a few things in my life. Facebook is one of them. It robbed me of time with Jesus, and it turned my focus on myself. Chocolate is another. I love chocolate a whole lot, and it had an unhealthy hold in my life so I now limit how often I can enjoy it. Make-up. I learned a lot about beauty over the summer at camp, where I put sunlotion on my face everyday instead of mascara and blush. Now that I'm working at the salon again, make-up is a part of my dresscode, but I let it get bigger than my dresscode and I began to wear it all the time again, forgetting what true beauty is in the process. For now, I am only wearing make-up to work. Busyness. My life is a little on the crazy side, and I carved out my Tuesday to have sabbath rest.

Turn over the coffee table. Clean it off. Be set free.

Confession: My Dimes

A dime is a small thing. It's the smallest of our coins, worth only ten cents. It's tiny, insignificant, and meaningless, really. But, if you pick up a dime and you hold it out to the horizon, it will cover the sun. The sun is a great big thing, and yet we can lose that perspective, and begin to think that the dime is the bigger object because the sun is hidden.

"For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. I am the LORD and there is no other, apart from me there is no God." Isaiah 45:4-5a

He said He is the LORD and there is no other. No idols. No dimes. An idol, like a dime, is a small thing, but sometimes I pick it up and place it up in front of God, and it blocks Him out and begins to take God's place in my life.

There are a lot of dimes on my horizon right now. They're blocking the Son, and they're skewing my perspective.

Dime #1: Internet. Access to the wonderful world of cyber space is a fabulous thing. For months, we didn't have internet at the apartment. I became accustom to never checking my email, or facebook, or the weather. I never used mapquest. I couldn't just "google it." Instead, I spent a lot of time with God. The online world didn't steal my time or my focus. I focused on Jesus. But we have access to the internet now, and I've become accustom to checking my email and my facebook twice daily. But I don't open the Word twice a day to spend time in the Truth. In fact, I haven't had serious God time in over two weeks. Sure, I've spent time with God in the last two weeks, but I've given Him my hurried, leftover time. I've flipped through the Bible to a favorite passage instead of really diving in, searching for something new to stand out and capture my heart.

Dime #2: Friends. Relationships are important, for sure. Jesus wants me to love people, yes. But for me, sometimes friends and people and relationships get in the way of my seeking God. I say I want to love them with Jesus' love, and overflow with who He is as we meet for coffee, or chat on the couch, but how can I love them like Jesus when I haven't spent time at His feet soaking up His great love? I end up pouring out all of my love, which doesn't go very far, and then walking away feeling drained and empty. Friends and people are such a good thing, but I need to be careful that they don't get top priority before Jesus.

Dime #3: Sickness. I've had couple of physical ailments and struggles in the last months. It might sound stupid, but it so often seems bigger than it really should be. I come to the end of a long, tiring, painful day, and I don't think I have the energy to give to God. Sleep takes priority. And there it is, I've held out my dime, made my physical wellness (or lack thereof) more important, and I've shut out the Son.

Dime #4: Busyness. My schedule is crazy. Anyone who has tried to spend time with me knows they need to book their block of time at least two weeks in advance! I run and run and run. Then I end up either running out of energy, or running out of time to give to God. He gets the leftover, and my second-best (or worse).

While bits and pieces of my dimes are good things, I have to be careful that they don't get blown out of proportion. I have to be careful that they don't become the things I treasure the most. I want God to have that spot.