Are Your Hands Clean?

Are Your Hands Clean?

Psalm 24:4-5 NKJV

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
   Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
   Nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
   And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

   I can still hear my mom’s voice asking the question for the umpteenth time – “did you wash your hands?”  And no matter how carefully I had washed my hands, she’d look at them and determine that they weren’t clean enough. 

   Many people carry small containers of "hand sanitizer" to clean their hands when they are away from home.  Most of our society is trying to educate us on the necessity of having clean hands and to get us to develop the habit of trying to have clean hands.  We are trained in the importance of sanitation and controlling diseases by washing one's hands to removing dead skin, contaminants and disease causing microbes.  And, truth be told, with all the things our hands come into contact with we need to be extra careful to get rid of anything that would try to cause sickness or disease, otherwise we might spread it through contact to others around us.  Think of all the people you touch directly through physical contact such as handshakes each day, and also everything you touch that another person may pick up or touch as well.  All it takes is one person carrying a disease to infect and contaminate a large group of people around them.  We must all have clean hands, so that we protect ourselves and others from touching anything that is improper.

   Have you ever considered that you need to keep your spiritual hands clean as well?  Just like our physical hands can become contaminated if we touch something wrong, so our spiritual life and hands become contaminated if we touch sin.  God is asking us to examine ourselves to be sure we keep clean hands spiritually much like my mom used to ask me to be sure I kept my physical hands clean.  Remember; God is watching you, and if you think you can get away with sin before Him, you are deceiving yourself.

   There are many situations and things that, as a Christian, you have no business touching or being engaged in.  Anything action or item that serves to separate you God is sin.  Period.  And, just as we all have different tolerances for disease, so Christians have different tolerances to being caught in a trap of sin.  There are sinful activities that have no lure for me but there are those that I need to avoid or risk being drawn into. 

   Another danger is the contamination factor.  If I sin openly, what of others who see me?  If my family sees me sinning, I run the risk of one of them also sinning in the same way.  If co-workers see me sinning, what example for Christ am I giving them?  My actions can spread sin to others, and the results can have eternal consequences.

   Keep your spiritual hands clean and wash them frequently.  I find myself examining my life a lot looking for things or actions that I know God does not want me involved in.  And I’ve found its often easier to avoid these actions in the first place and harder to stop them once I’ve started.  Keeping your hands clean is a lot easier if you’re not handling muck all day long.  You’re spiritual hands are easier to keep clean if you don’t handle sinful things all day long. Your heart will be healthier and you’ll enjoy a blessed relationship with God the Father.  You’re testimony will be more effective if you’re not presenting the Gospel with hands that stink of sin and rebellion.  

Stephen Cram                            February 6, 2011                 Colossian 2:8