How many times have you heard about the importance of hand washing over the last few months? The entire world is being reeducated in basic hygiene that our mothers tried to teach us! What is true for physical wellness is a picture of a higher truth – it is a principle of spiritual health.
In the Old Testament there were daily, ritual washings that were required of the priests who were to enter into the presence of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ came He said to His disciples, “Now ye are clean through the Word that I have spoken unto you” In fact, one of the lasting pictures of Christ and His disciples is the image of the Master on His knees with a towel in His hands, washing the feet of His followers.
God’s desire is always that His people be clean. The hands are an indicator of the heart…what is in us always comes out. Clean hearts (what God sees) and clean hands (what men see) are always connected to divine blessing.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psalm 24:3-5
Only God can make us clean, yet we are commanded to do our part in cooperating with Him.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
James 4:8
In other words, wash your hands! How is this possible?
- There is the washing of the blood of Jesus Christ. This happens when we confess our sin and step into God’s light. 1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Come clean with God and He will make you clean!
- There is the washing by the water of the Word of God. Through confession we are made clean, but only through communion are we kept clean. As we get in the Word the Word gets into us and does that deep, daily spiritual cleaning that is necessary. Christ does His work in the church through the Word, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:26).
Recently I saw a book published by a medical doctor on brainwashing. The goal was to teach people how to “detox” their minds. Only God can make a mind new, clean, and fresh. Only the Great Physician does that, and He only does it when we come to Him to be made clean. Like the Lord and the needy leper in Luke 5, Christ stands ready to make us clean, “And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him” (Luke 5:13). He is willing, if we are.
Are your hands clean? Is your heart pure? Every time you walk to the sink or reach for the hand sanitizer let it be a reminder of the washing that is most important. Spiritual cleansing matters for time and eternity.
