Wash Your Hands!

 

I know you’re sick of hearing this but bear with me.  The pandemic Covid-19 unleashed a tsunamic of hygienic advice lecturing all of us on the necessities of washing your hands, using hand sanitizer, refraining from touching your face, etc., etc.  The implications range far wider than the obvious. 

Germs love hands and they hate to be disturbed.  These couch potatoes of bacteria sack out in callouses, creases, tiny cuts, fingernails and protected spaces between your fingers.  They take great comfort in their microscopic size because it makes them invisible to the naked eye.  Most amusing to them is your insistence that you are a clean person and you are offended by anyone implying that you are dirty.  

Sorry.  Your hands are probably dirtier than you ever imagined.  Don’t think so?  When is the last time you punched your PIN into a public keypad?  Or swiped your finger across your smart phone screen?  Or, pushed a grocery cart through the supermarket?  Or shook hands with a trusted friend (or a sworn enemy)?  Or tousled a toddler’s hair?  Then, you ate a potato chip, chewed your fingernails, rubbed your eye, or dug a sesame seed from between your teeth, all without a second thought.  Got the point?  So … 

Wash your physical hands.  Use antibacterial soap and running water.  Pay special attention to your fingertips and thumbs.  Don’t hurry.  A good cleansing takes around twenty seconds.  Wash your hands after every trip to the restroom, before and after eating, handling money, and after anytime you do a dirty job or interact with people.  Remember, staphylococcus and pathogens hide in plain sight.  But, let’s look at other aspects to the phrase “wash your hands.” 

Wash your hands of spiritual germs.    Much like microscopic bacterium, sinful attitudes adopt an invisible state of being in our minds. They hide in fleshly habits we coddle, prideful spirits we harbor and unrepentant sins we protect.  Lust, greed, hatred, bitterness, rebellion and other wicked strains burrow into the crevices of our souls.  Our evil tendencies despise divine disturbances.  They vehemently resist any attempt to root them out. You must go after them relentlessly with the detergent of the blood of Christ, the washing of the Word and earnest praying in the Holy Ghost.  “Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” Hebrews 12:15 (NKJV). 

Wash your hands of evil relationships.    “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’” 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NKJV).  Hanging around renegades and rebels poses risks to your own spirit.  If someone you call a friend drags you down, plants evil thoughts in your mind, speaks evil of authorities and undermines your faith, cut the relationship.  Like washing your hands of stubborn stains, it may be hard to do, but your spiritual life depends on it.  Wash those evil influences away!  Instead, surround yourself with people who build you up in the faith, encourage right living and stand for truth.  

Wash your hands of past sins.  Just as God casts your repented sins into the sea of forgetfulness, the devil deep dives into those seas and drags out your misdeeds to taunt and terrorize you with them.  He has no right to commit his crimes, but when has Satan ever played by the rules?  He will do whatever you permit him to do to you.  The lying, cheating, immoral lifestyles of your past were drowned in the precious blood of Jesus.  It is time for you to rid yourself of their ties to your present and future life.  Wash your hands of the guilt and shame that dogged your pre-Christ days.  “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”  Titus 3:5 (NKJV) Forgive yourself.  If Christ forgave you, you can do the same.  By faith, accept the judgement of your Savior.  “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11 (NKJV). 

Keep in mind that any symptoms that develop in your life come about by failing to wash your hands.  Clean hands keep you symptom-free.  Every time you bend over the sink and wash your hands, picture the blood of Christ cleansing you from sin and setting you free from your past.  

Hallelujah, what a Savior!