The religious leaders had quite a lucrative racket going. With exorbitant exchange rates and expensive non-blemished animals for sacrifice, they lined their own pockets with the faith of worshippers. The day prior, Jesus had entered the Temple, seen the scam, and, for the second time in His ministry, had purged the leaven of the religious leaders from the courts of the Temple. This is why, when Jesus showed up at the Temple the next day, the leaders of religion …Grape on grape of

Matthew 21:23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

Today people react to God’s love with a “how dare you interfere with my life” attitude. If you have a habit of sharing your faith with others, then you have probably experienced this first hand.

Notice how in Matthew 21 there is no denial of the problem, it’s just reaction at the correcting of the problem.

Previously we made note that children do not approach God without motive of money, politics or pride. Jesus Himself recognized that believers must approach God as a child … without motive.

The Chief Priests and the Elders in the Temple revealed that they worship God with motive and when that motive was touched, they reacted. Over-reaction to stimulus is a good revealer of a problem.

One day, I took my youngest son to the doctor because of an ear infection. He was okay when the doc examined one ear, but as soon as the doc moved to the other, Joshua came out with a mean left hook sending the surprised doctor backwards.

I remember one time in a counseling session I was talking with this man about why he was there and was asking some questions about his prayer and devotion time and the guy stood up and pulled back to take a swing at me then sped out of the office. I thought, well, now I know what the problem is … if he comes back, we can work on it.

When God shows you something in your life that needs to change, don’t run from the work.

A young man once asked a sculptor how he created a lion from a block of marble and the sculptor said, “It’s really quite simple. I just chip off all the pieces that don’t look like a lion.”

Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

When God chisels off a piece that shouldn’t be there, don’t try to pick it back up and glue it on. Let it go and continue on without it … don’t look back.

I’m not talking about your spouse or your children.

When you move forward, the pieces God chisels off fall behind.

I think there are a lot of Christians who idolize the life they’ve left behind and when they talk about who they used to be, you can almost sense their yearning for the past. Your testimony is important, but it’s not to glorify your past … it’s to glorify the God who gave you a future.