Getting our temples cleaned up

Joash, under the tutelage of Jehoiada the priest, got off to a good start. 

One thing he wanted to do early in his reign was to restore the temple. 

The temple had been damaged, probably during the reign of Ahaziah.

Apparently at his mother’s urging, he along with his brothers had broken into the temple and used some of the sacred objects for Baal worship (2 Chronicles 24:7).

And so Joash gave orders that it be repaired to the priests. 

But for reasons that go unexplained, the priest kept putting it off and never got around to doing it. 

Joash got pretty upset when he found out about it, and he confronted Jehoiada saying,

Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the Lord and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the covenant law?  (2 Chronicles 24:6).

As a result, the work got started.

Not only did they rebuild the temple, but they also were able to make some new articles for the temple as well, presumably to replace the ones that his father and uncles had taken for Baal worship.

As I look at this passage, I wonder, “Do we pay enough attention to the temple of the Lord.” 

I’m not talking about a building.  Rather, I’m talking about the temple of our bodies.  We are called the temple of Christ because Christ dwells within us.

What spiritual damage has been done to our lives, because of sin? 

Are we letting sin remain there?  Or are we cleaning it out so that we might be holy vessels for God?

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in serving God and doing things for him, that we forget that God is first and foremost interested in us as people. 

He’s not so interested in what we can do for him.  Rather, he is interested in us. 

And he wants his temple to be cleaned up, restored, and made holy unto him.

I’m not saying that we need to be perfectly cleaned up in order to serve God. 

What I am saying is that we shouldn’t leave the temple derelict because we are too wrapped up in doing “God’s work.”

God’s work is primarily in us first, and only after that, does he turn his attention to what he can do through us.

May we be temples that are clean, holy, and without blemish.