Spiritual Hygiene



hygiene is GOOD!

I'm assuming that you, like most of the world, believe in personal hygiene right?! Washing your hands, taking showers, brushing your teeth, the whole parade. I mean, could you imagine living in a world that DIDN'T care about hygiene? Gross! Well, let me tell you a TRUE story, directly from the Bible, that gives us a deeper meaning behind personal hygiene, but most importantly, spiritual hygiene.

Matthew 15:1
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem saying,

Pause for a minute. Let's get our facts straight. Scribes were the authors or writers in Bible times. The scribes would copy scripture (the Old Testament) onto scrolls. Pharisees, on the other hand, were people who stuck to the old law of Moses and followed those laws to a "T". Both very religious groups of men. Correct? Correct. Now let's move on to verse 2.

Matthew 15:2
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.



the disciples didn't do this

Now the Pharisees and scribes are calling out Jesus' disciples. The disciples did not follow the customs of Moses, or any of the elders from the Old Testament, because they did not wash their hands before eating. The Pharisees and scribes didn't like that. Washing your hands before a meal was the proper, religious, law abiding thing to do. Just like nowadays it is the proper thing to do to take a shower or bath. Except washing hands also had a religious tie to it! Not obeying that law, was looked down upon, and scorned. Moving on to verse 3.

Matthew 15:3
But he (Jesus) answered and said unto them (the scribes and Pharisees), Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your traditions?



Oooohhh OUCH! The Pharisees and scribes always tried to ask Jesus questions to see if they could throw them off, but Jesus would answer their questions, and in return asked them questions he knew they could not answer. This time, Jesus was telling the scribes and Pharisees this: Why do you guys overstep and break the commandments of God by your traditions? The scribes and Pharisees had their own traditions that went against God's law! But because they thought they were so religious, it was alright for them to make their traditions just as important as God's.

Now you might be wondering, Hannah! where is this post going?! I'm just Bout there! Jesus went on to say this:

Matthew 15:8-9
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

their knowledge consumed them

The Pharisees and scribes were very religious men. They copied scripture, they were religious leaders, they knew the law from back to front and front to back. But they lacked something. Their heads were so full of knowledge that they didn't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. They didn't even reconigze him as their Messiah. They thought they knew everything about God but they missed one vital, necessary part: God's Son. And as the Son stood right in front of them, their knowledge blinded them. They honored God with their lips, but they worshipped him in vain, because their doctrine was the commandments of men, not of God.

The next verses will get to the heart of what I'm trying to say.

Matthew 15:10-11, 18-20
And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand: not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man.

I know you're saying, "WOAH! HANNAH! That's a lot to process!" Actually, it's pretty simple! I'll show you.

Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees, AND the multitude of people around him and told them to listen up, to hear, to make sure they understood what he was about to say. And what he said was this; they washed their hands back then before a meal because they didn't want anything unclean accidently entering their body. What Jesus said was whatever you put into your mouth does not defile a man. (The definition of defile according to Webster's is "to make filthy".) But the things that we think, and the things that come out of our mouth do defile us. Because of our sinful nature, our thoughts are full of lies, adulterous and murderous thoughts. We lie, we take God's name in vain, we make fun of people. The things that defile us, or make us filthy spiritually, don't come from eating something weird because we didn't wash our hands, they come from what we say and think. Jesus wanted the multitude, the scribes and Pharisees, and his disciples to know that it didn't matter if the disciples didn't wash their hands before a meal, what mattered was the sin nature of man.

So when we are washing our hands, or taking a shower, I want all of us to remember this Bible story, this life lesson. Not only should we keep ourselves clean, but we should keep the inside of us clean. If our inside is dirty and filthy, than we should clean it. Make it new and clean. Just think of it like this, if the outside of a glass was clean and fingerprint free and sparkling, but inside the glass there was spoiled milk, would anyone use that glass? No. The outside of us can't just be the only thing that's clean. We need to make sure that spiritually we are clean as well. Say kind words, do nice things, think good thoughts. And most importantly, open your eyes, wipe the dirt out of them, and see Jesus.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE.