"Here He comes!"
"He must be The One who is to come."
"He will rescue us from the Romans!"
Hours later...
"Who does he think he is?"
"I could have sold those for lots of money!!"
"Who gave him the right to ruin everything like this??"
This was the attitude of the people the day Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey - just a week before his crucifixion. As he entered, his welcome party was boisterous and excited. They laid their coats and big palm leaves to give him the best red carpet welcome that they could afford. They shouted his praises. In that moment, he was their hero.
Everyone knew he was coming to conquer their enemy. Yet they were confused about which enemy he came to defeat. They thought he had come to oust the Roman soldiers from their midst. This is why they were so confused and offended when he immediately entered the temple turning over money tables and cracking his whip at business men (literally!) and yelling, "My Father's house is called The House of Prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!" He was furious that sin had so overrun their lives that even The House of Prayer was merely another business venue to them.
Yes, he had come to vanquish the foe. But this foe was much more oppressive than the Romans. He had come to conquer sin.
So often in our lives, we get excited about the King of Glory entering our lives, but are so offended when he begins to shine the light of truth on our own sin. We want the privileges of being known as God's child, but it too much for him to ask us to clean up and give him 100% of our hearts.
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We are a culture so used to popularity charts. We have the Grammys, the Emmys, the Oscars, the Golden Globe, the Golden Boot, the Golden Compass. Everywhere we go, we want to know who is the #1, the chart topper, the first. And we do that in our own lives too. If we are really spiritual, we might give Jesus first place in our lives. He can be #1. But you only have to have 51% popularity to be #1. Jesus wants 100%. He wants to be your everything. He wants you to hold NOTHING back.
So I challenge you, when you so gladly accept the Jesus who comes to conquer, expect a Jesus who comes to cleanse...because he wants to conquer your sin.
"He must be The One who is to come."
"He will rescue us from the Romans!"
Hours later...
"Who does he think he is?"
"I could have sold those for lots of money!!"
"Who gave him the right to ruin everything like this??"
This was the attitude of the people the day Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey - just a week before his crucifixion. As he entered, his welcome party was boisterous and excited. They laid their coats and big palm leaves to give him the best red carpet welcome that they could afford. They shouted his praises. In that moment, he was their hero.
Everyone knew he was coming to conquer their enemy. Yet they were confused about which enemy he came to defeat. They thought he had come to oust the Roman soldiers from their midst. This is why they were so confused and offended when he immediately entered the temple turning over money tables and cracking his whip at business men (literally!) and yelling, "My Father's house is called The House of Prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!" He was furious that sin had so overrun their lives that even The House of Prayer was merely another business venue to them.Yes, he had come to vanquish the foe. But this foe was much more oppressive than the Romans. He had come to conquer sin.
So often in our lives, we get excited about the King of Glory entering our lives, but are so offended when he begins to shine the light of truth on our own sin. We want the privileges of being known as God's child, but it too much for him to ask us to clean up and give him 100% of our hearts.
.jpg)
So I challenge you, when you so gladly accept the Jesus who comes to conquer, expect a Jesus who comes to cleanse...because he wants to conquer your sin.
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