Daily Devotional - Growing In Grace - Week 14 - Day 89 - 3/30/26 - "Don't Play in My House"

Author: Evangelist Lisa Dalton

“Don’t Play in My House”
Scripture: Matthew 21:12–13

“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,  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.”

Devotion:
I believe it’s safe to say Jesus was upset about what He saw happening in His Father’s house. It reminds me of a parent who comes home early from work and catches their children doing exactly what they were told not to do.

I experienced that many times growing up. My grandmother would say, “Now Lisa, don’t you have nobody in my house playing while I’m gone.” I would always answer, “Yes ma’am,” and as soon as she was out of sight, I’d call my friend over. We would cook breakfast and sit at the table like we bought the groceries and paid the bills.

But Grandma always knew I had people in her house playing—because there were fewer eggs and less bacon in the refrigerator than before she left. And her response to me was always the same: “Now Lisa, didn’t I tell you not to be playing in my house?”

This is exactly what Jesus was expressing to the merchants who thought it was acceptable to set up shop in the temple of God. The temple in Jerusalem was an open space, much like a large flea market. Merchants were selling animals for sacrifice, exchanging money at unfair rates, and profiting off worshippers—especially the poor. What was meant to be a place of prayer had become a marketplace, and worse, a place of exploitation.

Jesus immediately rebuked them and overturned the tables of those who were selling in His Father’s house. Like my grandmother, Jesus reminded them that the standard had already been set long ago: “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves,” as written in Isaiah 56:7. Jesus was restoring God’s purpose for His house.

Consider This:

• God cares deeply about the purity of worship.
• Jesus confronts anything that blocks people from encountering God.
• Jesus still cleans temples today.

Jesus reminds us that God’s house has two purposes: prayer and worship. And what it is not for—is playing.

Prayer:
Lord, we thank You for the reminder of how precious Your house is and its true purpose. Let us enter Your temple with a contrite heart and a broken spirit, ready and willing to pray and worship You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.