Daily Bible Devotions: Which Is Greater in Your Heart, God or the Temple?

Daily Bible Devotions: Which Is Greater in Your Heart, God or the Temple?

Lin Lin

The Bible records, “But I say to you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Matthew 12:6-8). When I was a new believer, I read these verses. At that time, I only knew Jesus Christ, with His word, reminded people who lived under the law that Jesus Christ is greater than the temple and also is the Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore, He could heal patients on that day; He didn’t condemn His disciples who plucked and ate the ears of corn when they went through the corn on the Sabbath. Yesterday when I read these verses again, thinking of the fact that the Lord worked on the Sabbath day, I knew clearly, by doing this thing, the Lord reminded people living under the law that He had done a new work outside the temple, and everyone should depart from the temple to accept His new work.

However, during that time, the Pharisees who slavishly abided by the laws and rules saw the temple as greater than God. Apparently they served God in the temple and explained the laws to the people, but they only talked about some letters, rules and restrictions. They never complied with the law themselves. Worse still, they renounced God’s law, killing many prophets and embezzling the possessions of widows. Hence, in the eyes of God, all they had done had nothing to do with His will and requirements; their service amounted to no more than going through the process of sacrificing and worshiping idols. They had no place for God in their heart: They valued the temple, their status and livelihood above God and the truth God expressed. As a result, though having heard Jesus Christ’s preaching, seen various signs and wonders He manifested, and perceived His power and authority and wonderful deeds, they neither sought the truth nor looked for a way to be compatible with God at all. Besides, they judged that God was an ordinary person, condemned and blasphemed that He cast out devils by the prince of the devils, and even joined hands with the Roman government to crucify Him. Ultimately, they were subjected to God’s righteous punishment and curse and were destroyed in hell because they had offended God’s disposition.

Then let’s turn to the followers of Judaism who were deceived by the Pharisees. They were doing the same type of things as “the temple is greater than God.” For example, they viewed those priests, scribes and Pharisees as greater than God. So when the chief priests deceived and incited them, they lost their reasoning and ground that a believer in God should have. Not only did they fail to stand on the side of the Lord, but they blindly followed the chief priests and yelled out to nail Him to the cross. They lacked penetration into the truth of the hypocrisy of the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, and didn’t know those who served God saw their own status and the words of the Bible greater than the Lord. Furthermore, they didn’t know that these so-called “God’s servants,” taking defending the true way as camouflage, fabricated various rumors to deceive and control the people firmly in their hands. Their frantically disturbing and impairing God’s work was competing with God for people in fact. Therefore, the believers who followed the Pharisees were subjected to perdition and destruction in the end.

So what kind of people could honor God as great? I thought of Job. When all his children died and all his properties were taken from him, grieved as he was, he didn’t sin with his lips or offend God but still extolled God’s name. Job said, “the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). He had a place for God in his heart. His sheep and cattle, wealth and children couldn’t compare with God, because God was the only One in his heart. He could honor God as great in his heart, so he received greater blessings from God after he underwent trials. Peter was another example. As he followed Jesus Christ, he carefully obeyed the Lord’s words and acted in accordance with what He had demanded. Even at a critical time, when the soldiers tried to arrest Jesus Christ, he disregarded his own life to protect Him, and rushed to cut off a soldier’s ear. From these I saw Peter loved the Lord more than himself, and this is something that ordinary people could not do. Peter’s actions gained the Lord’s approval. Therefore, Jesus Christ gave the key to the kingdom of heaven to him and entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of shepherding the churches.

When thinking of these, I prayed to God and reflected on this: Which is greater in my heart, the temple or God? The fact that the Pharisees resisted God gave me a warning: if I believe in God, but in my heart, I don’t honor Him as great, nor can I know, obey or worship Christ incarnate, then all that I have done will be in vain in His eyes no matter how I believe in Him, follow Him, and sacrifice and expend for Him. I should emulate Job and Peter. No matter what trials I encounter, I shall believe in God’s sovereignty and have true faith in Him; No matter how much God’s work and word do not conform to my own conceptions and imaginations, I shall put myself aside to obey Him. Only in this way can I become the one who genuinely follows God and honors Him as great. Brothers and sisters, let’s be someone who honors God as great in his heart. Then God’s blessings and grace must be with us!