I want to go back to the Temple for this one. In both of my PINE stories in Mark, the temple is the place where the giving happened. Giving everything. With the pour widow, it is the temple treasury, with the woman with the alabastar jar, it is treasuring the temple of Jesus' body, with the treasured perfume, which was a preparation for His burial, as He said.
My take away, if you can say take away, when you are talking about giving, is that I do not want to simply Pour IN Everything---but I want to Pour IN Everything, for the temple.
John 2 records this story:
"When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken."
The temple is the place of worship for all peoples, the place of prayer. Jesus' body was and still is, the temple. We are His body. We are the temple. 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 says, " Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."
Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We have been bought with a price. Our bodies do not belong to us. As followers of Jesus, who trust Him for our salvation, We are the Body of Christ. We are his temple, a house of prayer for all nations.
This is where I PINE to Pour IN Everything, into the temple treasury, the Kingdom of GOD, the temple, the Body of Christ. This is how I see meeting the physical and spiritual needs of others comes together. Jesus cares about our bodies, and Jesus cares about His Body, which we are. HIs temple is a house of prayer for all nations. There are many nations, many peoples, who are waiting to hear the good news of salvation through Jesus. This is why He poured out His life. He purchased peoples from every tribe, tongue, and nation, who will one day worship around His throne. What a joy to pour in everything for this purpose! I PINE for this day, and I PINE to be part of this promise, this purpose, coming to pass! I am called to this, and if you love Jesus, so are you!
