Growing up in a Christian home was not something I considered advantageous at the time. In hindsight, the benefits were many, but as a child I resented the imposition of church and faith on my life by my parents. I also hated the fact that my father was a preacher. You have to have been a preacher’s kid (PK) to understand the special bond between PKs!
Being a PK often provides a wonderful insight into the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of the church. Seeing the effect of so-called Christians on my father in one church made me feel like I didn’t want to be one. In fact, I wanted to smash their faces. I might not have respected my father much at the time (I was a teenager) but mess with my family and you mess with me!
At Spring Harvest (an annual Christian event in the UK) this year I listened to a young woman called Miriam Swaffield speak powerfully about the passion of Jesus as He took ‘a don’t mess with my family’ attitude when He turned over the tables in the Temple. She imagined Jesus saying; “This is My Dad’s house. That’s My family. Nobody hurts My family.”
Miriam compared the misuse of the Temple Courts with the church, stating; “When I bad mouth the church I am committing self-harm, because I am the church.” You could have heard a pin drop as everyone present stopped to think about the times that they had bad-mouthed the church and fellow believers. Then Miriam asked about tables in our lives and gave a challenge:
“What tables are you going to turn over?”
She also asked; “What stops you from being consumed with passion for Jesus?”
So … what tables are you going to turn over in your life, and what stops you from being consumed with passion for Jesus?
Passion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. (Psalm 69:9 NLT)
(Guest post contributed by David Welford)
The Recovering Legalist 