Tuesday, January 15, 2013

In Udder Words~~~~~~~~Clean Hands and a Pure Heart


Psalm 24:3-5 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

 
In this passage a question was asked, “Who may ascend to stand in God’s holy place?” The answer given was direct and to the point. Those with clean hands and a pure heart who haven’t lifted their soul to an idol or lied basically will be the ones. In other words it’s important we aren’t caught with dirty hands or a heart that is not pure.

 
As a child growing up one of the requirements before eating a meal we needed to wash our hands first. Living on a ranch and being outdoors all the time it was obvious our hands were in need of cleaning first before eating. The slobber of the horse, the smell of the pigs, and the mud from the pond all needed to go. A quick run over with the bar of soap and the job was done and it was meal time! Luckily we didn’t have to stop and work on purifying our hearts first as well each time. If that was true I don’t think we ever would have been able to eat.

 
Because of the rules of mom, dad, and their parents before them we understand why we need to clean our hands before we eat or wash them after we do something like going to the bathroom. It’s just good hygiene that is necessary to prevent the creation of an illness and the spreading of various diseases. Too bad this isn’t more obvious to people in regards to their spiritual lives. Is it the fault of our parents and their parents before them for not passing that information along? In some ways yes and other ways no. We need to take responsibility for our own cleanliness.

 
Indeed we have failed to emphasis the importance of clean spiritual hands in our quest for good spiritual hygiene. Just like mom wasn’t going to let us eat with dirty hands God isn’t going to let us ascend into the hill of the Lord with dirty hands either.

 
At the door of our heart God has placed a wash basin for us to use to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts all in one easy step. The step of accepting Jesus into our lives and living obediently to His standards, His house rules, His word. He gives us the “how to,” the bar of soap needed to get cleaned up but the rest is up to us to do.

 
Daily it’s up to us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts by asking the Lord for forgiveness for the things we have done against His will. To repent and turn our lives around to follow Him wholly instead of the idols we erected to satisfy us until we make up our minds what we want in life. Instead of dirtying our hands with the lies we tell and the poor choices we make we need to wash our hands of these things.
 

As mom would often have to check our hands to make sure they were totally clean God will be checking our hands at the door of Heaven to see if they are clean as well. The slobber of our addictions to alcohol, drugs, sex, money, food, and such has to go. The smell of the aroma of our bad attitude has to go. The mud from the sins we committed large or small has to be washed off first.



It’s best to be cleansed now instead of just before the next meal because we don’t know when Christ will be returning. I said we don’t know “when” He will be returning but the fact of the matter is He will be here again and we need to be ready.



Don’t be caught with dirty hands. Idols, things that stand between us and God don’t save us. It’s God who is the Lord of our salvation. It’s important we clean up and look our spiritual best for His next and final arrival. Forever ready on the spot to show what He already should be seeing in us, clean hands and a pure heart.



© 2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

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