Saturday // 9th November 2024
Keep Your Hands Clean
> Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands anda pure heart. PSALM 24:3-4
Separation from the world is a first principle in the spiritual life. Though Jesus touched lepers, His hands remained clean. He was called the “friend of sinners,” yet Hebrews says He was “set apart from sinners” (Matthew 11:19; Hebrews 7:26).
Our Lord befriended the worst transgressors, but He always kept His hands pure.. In a similar way, the servant of the Lord must remain separate from the world (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1). At the same time, he or she must be willing to engage those enslaved by the world. All servants of God must learn to touch unclean people while keeping their hands clean.
Consider Paul’s sober exhortation to Timothy: Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:20-21)
Remember, it’s not just the blatant sins that dirty our hands; it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine (Song of Solomon 2:15). Keeping one’s hands clean dips into other areas besides sin and worldliness. It also involves the area of handling money.
Your brother in Christ,
Apostle Ashok Martin