We were made in the image of God. He gave us emotions so that we could experience the fullness of His image. Kept inside they can be destructive. Uncontrolled they can wreck havoc in our lives. Dealing with them filtered by Holy Spirit they can be used for our good and the good of others.
Passion in an area can be a good thing given to us by God.
Jesus gave us a promise of spiritual nourishment and strength when He said, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). It is also interesting to note that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means "the house of bread" in Hebrew, and He fulfilled the prophecy of Micah that from Bethlehem would come "one who is to be ruler in Israel ... And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD" (Micah 5:2-4).
"For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (John 6:33). In the past, the Israelites received manna from God through Moses, which sustained them physically. Now, Jesus provides the true bread of eternal life to anyone who trusts in Him (John 6:35; John 6:40; John 3:16; John 3:36). First 5
“His (Gods’) unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:5). You see when you transfer your trust into Christ, he not only pardons you, he places you in his forever family of friends. Max Lucado
John 2:13–17
13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” The New King James Version
Jesus and His disciples travel to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. While there, Jesus drives those conducting business for profit out of the temple courts for violating the sanctity of the site. Faithlife Study Bible
Every male Jew was required to go to Jerusalem three times a year—for the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
The synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—concentrate on Jesus’ Galilean ministry. John focuses on Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem. The different accounts do not contradict each other; instead, they complement each other. The synoptic Gospels place the cleansing of the temple at the conclusion of Jesus’ ministry, whereas John puts it at the beginning. Apparently Jesus cleansed the temple two different times. The language of the synoptic Gospels and that of John differ considerably, indicating two separate events.
The Law of Moses required that any animal offered in sacrifice be unblemished, and that every Jewish male over 19 years of age pay a temple tax. As a result, tax collectors and inspectors of sacrificial animals were present at the temple. However, these officials would not accept secular coins because they had an image of the Roman emperor, whom the pagans worshiped as a god. To put such coins into the temple treasury was thought to be an offense. So in order to accommodate visitors in need of animals and the right kinds of coins, animal merchants and money changers set up shop in the outer court of the temple. These inspectors, collectors, and exchangers, however, charged high prices. Jesus’ whip was probably more a symbol than a weapon; nevertheless, it was effective in scattering the money changers and the animals they were selling.
Jesus’ actions were a sign of authority and judgment. The cleansing of the temple was the first public presentation of Jesus to Israel; He presented Himself as Messiah. The Messiah’s ministry began in the temple; He came to purify. The expression My Father’s house was a distinct claim to messiahship.
At the wedding in Cana, Jesus demonstrated His deity and power; here He showed His authority. Recalling the words of Psalm. 69:9, the disciples understood that Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah. The NKJV Study Bible
Psalm 69:9
Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
Matthew 21:12–46 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’
”Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”
Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?”And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.”And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”They said to Him, “The first.”Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.
“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.
”Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.
Malachi 3:1–18
“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”Says the LORD of hosts.
“But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the LORD
An offering in righteousness.
“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the LORD,
As in the days of old,
As in former years.
And I will come near you for judgment;
I will be a swift witness
Against sorcerers,
Against adulterers,
Against perjurers,
Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans,
And against those who turn away an alien—
Because they do not fear Me,”Says the LORD of hosts.
“For I am the LORD, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed,
O sons of Jacob.
Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”Says the LORD of hosts.
“But you said,‘In what way shall we return?’
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,‘In what way have we robbed You?
’In tithes and offerings.
You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”Says the LORD of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,
”Says the LORD of hosts;
And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,
”Says the LORD of hosts.
“Your words have been harsh against Me,”Says the LORD,
Yet you say,‘What have we spoken against You?’
You have said,‘It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the LORD of hosts?
So now we call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are raised up;
They even tempt God and go free.’
”Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,
And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the LORD
And who meditate on His name.
“They shall be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.
”Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
