Wisdom's Corner
Wash Your Hands Before Eating

You probably have had the same experience that I had when I was a small boy. You are having fun playing outside when your mother calls for you to come eat. You really are hungry and want to go straight to the food. But your mother tells you to wash your hands first. You may try to argue because you do not want to wash your hands. But your mother makes it very plain that unless you wash your hands, you cannot eat.

God is calling every person to eat. He wants us to eat at a feast. A feast is a very big meal. There is lots and lots of food. But the feast that God calls us to is a spiritual feast. Paul refers to this feast in 1 Corinthians 5:8, "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

Notice Paul says you cannot have malice(this means anger with a desire to hurt someone) and wickedness(sin) if you want to eat at this feast. In James 4:8, James says we should, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

James says we must "cleanse" our hands. This means we must wash our hands--not our physical hands, but our spiritual hands. We must be willing to wash all the sin from our lives if we want to eat of God's spiritual feast.

Many times people will not want to wash their spiritual hands before trying to eat of God's feast. But God will not let them eat until they wash their hands.

The only way to know how to do this is to read and study the Bible. So until next time, keep studying your Bible. By doing this, you will get the wisdom needed to know how to wash your spiritual hands.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 1998

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)