Worship Focus

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025

4:58 am

Good morning! Happy Wednesday! I say happy Wednesday, but I tell you, it was a struggle getting out of bed this morning. And it wasn't just because it is cold outside, I tend to struggle getting out of bed, period, on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I can usually get up good on Mondays and Tuesdays, but I don't know what it is about Wednesdays and Thursdays that my brain is like, "no thank you, I just want to go back to sleep." Unfortunately, I am not one of those people that can just get up and go on the first alarm. I have like 3 alarms that go off, as well as, I hit snooze. My brain doesn't want to get up. I have gotten better though, with the good Lord's help, it is only taking 1 alarm now. So that is better, I think. But yeah, that is how I am feeling this morning, a little tired. Anyways, on to the Bible study.

This morning I am in John 2:13-22. We see here, Jesus is going into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Celebration. When He gets into the Court of Gentiles in the Temple, it is crowded with people and animals, merchants and money changers. The merchants were selling animals for sacrifices and the money changers were exchanging foreign money for the local currency. (In the note section of my Bible, it tells us that these people were taking advantage of the people coming in to worship by charging high prices and rates.) Jesus gets angry and makes a whip out of ropes and chases the merchants and money changers out of the Temple, and turns their tables over. Telling them to get out and to stop turning His Father's house into a marketplace. This makes the religious leaders mad because they were profiting off of these people. So they demanded Jesus tell them who gave Him the authority to do that, and if it was God, then for Him to show them a sign. Jesus tells them, "Alright, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." They didn't understand, and told Him that it took 46 years to build the Temple. But Jesus was talking about His own body, and they would not fully understand this until He was raised from the dead.

Wow, to see Jesus' anger at the Temple. The merchants and money changers weren't there for God, they were there for their own agendas. How many times do we go into God's house, church, and our hearts and heads are not on God and worshiping Him? Or we only go for personal reasons, such as looking good to the outside world or to build personal relationships with people of influence there? Sometimes we go just to make someone happy? If these are the reasons we go to church, we are missing the point of going to church.

God wants us to go to church to worship Him. Focusing on Him and what He has done in our lives, and learning more about Him. Do we have to go to a church some where to do that, no. We can worship Him anywhere at anytime. But He wants our hearts to be there and not cluttered up with the things of this world. He wants true, full-hearted worship. True worship comes from a heart that loves God and seeks Him. True worship puts our fleshly natures aside, and praises God.

Do you struggle with your mind wandering while you worship or do you struggle with even wanting to worship? We are all like that at some point, we get so busy and distracted that it is hard to shut our minds down. Or we may be going through a trial that we are struggling with that ends up making us feel like we have no reason to worship God. But Jesus can help you refocus. He can help clear your head and heart. He can lift that feeling of worry and stress off of you. If you recognize you struggle with this, ask Jesus to help you. He will help if you truly want it.