Clean


Lev 22:15  "The priests must not treat with irreverence the holy offerings of 

	the Israelites that they contribute to GOD 

Lev 22:16  lest they desecrate themselves and make themselves guilty when they 

	eat the holy offerings. I am GOD who makes them holy." 


     Just because something is being consumed doesn't mean that the consumer is 

gaining necessary nourishment. In fact, the very meal that would normally be 

very beneficial to the body can carry disease and infection, causing sickness 

and ultimately death. Depending on the condition of the eating utensils and the 

cleanliness of the hands the act of eating that appears to be right and normal 

may actually be introducing destructive substance into the body. To the person 

eating it may even taste good and give the same sensation as the healthy meal 

would give. Where the food and the hands have been, though, and with what they 

have come in contact can turn the essential routine of consuming food into a 

damaging exercise. 


	I recently went with my brother-in-law, Buddy, and two of his kids to a 

salvage yard to look for a certain part for one of his vehicles. This particular 

yard was located out in the country a ways and just appeared to be a large 

fence-surrounded field with rows of wrecked cars. As we entered the yard with 

general directions as to where a similar vehicle might be, we had to watch out 

for this large front end loader with a fork lift attached to the front that was 

moving cars here and there and enjoying the speed with which this could be done. 

It was stirring up a great deal of dust as it was a hot day and the roads 

between the cars were covered with a powdery dirt surface. As we were looking 

around through the car graveyard for the right one, the kids were discovering 

how interesting a place this can be, poking around and finding curious looking 

stuff lying here and there. There seemed to be an endless amount of fun places 

to explore and things to pick up and throw. They wanted to stay just a little 

longer in this fun playground when the right part had been found and we were 

heading back towards the entrance. They had also gone from being clean, well-

dressed little children to having dust and dirt covering their shoes and 

clothes, and their hands and faces clearly looked like they had just been having 

a good time at the junkyard. 


	When we arrived back at the house, there was a cooler on the front porch 

with some ice, pop, and watermelon in it. As Buddy was taking the parts out of 

the pickup and preparing to make repairs, I took the kids over to the cooler to 

get a pop. His little three-year-old girl was reaching into the cooler to get a 

pop when she noticed the cold ice floating around and immediately picked some up 

and popped it in her mouth. Sucking on ice was something she loved to do and had 

done many times before with no difficulty. It was a hot day and this would have 

been an acceptable and encouraged thing except for one thing- her hands were 

still covered with the junk yard dirt. To her it didn't seem to matter, and, 

even after warnings not to eat any more ice till she washed her hands, she 

reached back in and grabbed some more. It obviously still tasted good and on 

such a hot day felt so good to have in her mouth. What she didn't know or 

understand, though, was that the condition of her hands had changed the 

enjoyable act of simply eating the ice to a potentially dangerous experience. 

Where her hands had been had turned ice eating into a self-destructive thing 

rather than the enjoyable experience it had always been. 


	Just like eating is to our bodies, presenting an offering of praise and 

worship to our God is a very essential and enjoyable part of our healthy 

spiritual life. Without it there is a loss of the nourishment of heaven and the 

strength that comes in the presence of the Lord. While it is so enjoyable and 

essential to partake of the feast that is prepared at the table of the Lord, 

there is a danger in doing so without proper preparation of the hands and the 

eating utensils. If the heavenly meal is consumed without first cleansing from 

wrong motives and purposes that might have been taken on by where the hands have 

been, there is the possibility of introducing destructive substance into the 

body and bringing darkness where there should be light. It might even appear to 

be legitimate and right, and it might even taste just like before, but without 

the cleansing of holiness by the blood, there will be an entrance of destructive 

substance, turning the very act of offering praise and worship into a 

destructive thing. When coming into the presence of the Lord, the first thing 

might need to be a cleansing and purification before anything else is even 

tasted. Before the shout, the dance or even the sweet silence, there might need 

to be a conditioning of the hands and the heart. There is only One who will make 

us holy and clean, and it is only in the shedding off of everything else that we 

will be prepared for a safe, nourishing time in His presence. The volume, the 

activity and the degree of emotional response will not be accurate indicators of 

the purity of consumption. There is only One who makes holy and there is only 

One who can make clean. Allowing His Word and the glory of His presence to 

cleanse and purify, we'll be able to sit down at His table and partake of every 

aspect of His presence with no possibility of desecrating ourselves. 


Psa 51:9  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within 

	me. 

Psa 51:11  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from 

	me. 

Psa 51:12  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free 
	
	spirit. 

Psa 51:13  Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be 

	converted unto thee. 

Psa 51:14  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and 

	my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 


Psa 51:15  O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 

Psa 51:16  For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou 

	delightest not in burnt offering. 

Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite 

	heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 


Psa 51:19  Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,...


8/01/04