Matthew 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Jesus explains His actions after overturning the exchange tables and whipping the stall merchants in the temple. I think there could be more than one lesson associated with this event, but we must hold to first principles if we are going to be followers of Jesus. First things first.

When something is designed to be used in one way and it is used in another way, it is disrespectful to the designer. Some just don’t get it. They don’t see the choices they have made for themselves as being disrespectful. After all I have free will. What they fail to see is that the disrespect is felt by the designer, not the offender.

Ever been slapped across the face in front of others for showing disrespect? It is a waking moment, believe me. You get to see things in a different light. Suddenly what others think does matter. It is one thing to be wrong in a matter, it is another to be humiliated in that moment.

Too often we care more about what others think than what the designer thinks. Have we become so absorbed in the moment that we have forgotten our design? Do we understand our design? Have we examined our design? In reality, how can you respect your designer if you have no idea how you are design?

Ezekiel 43:11 (NASB) If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws. And write it in their sight, so that they may observe its whole design and all its statutes and do them.

2 Corinthians 6:16b for ye are the temple of the living God;

Do you not know your design?

Matthew 7:25-27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

While I was watching the news this morning the headlines seemed to be filled with people who are unstable. I cannot help but wonder how the word spoken to us by Jesus relates to the actions of these people who do violence, no matter where it is done. The foundation of sand is unstable. The life one builds on anything but the Rock is unstable.

So many times we want to point at our great enemy Satan and blame him for the evil in the world. It seems that the fallen nature of man is capable of great evil without urgings from the enemy. Jesus did not point to the structure of the house as the problem. Design had nothing to do with the fall. It was and is about any life build without Jesus as the foundation. All, no matter how poorly designed or richly designed are at risk of collapse.

I hear words like “He was brought up in a Christian home.” Just because you see a house built on good foundations does not mean you will build your own upon the same Rock. So often we look to our own foundations and assume that those who were afforded the protection of our roof would continue therein. That is presumptuous and unwise.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Providing cover is not training.