Most of us can still hear our parents’ warnings echoing in our minds, “Don’t touch that! Don’t put that in your mouth! Don’t pick that up!” All children are naturally curious and desire to touch, taste, and see everything they possibly can, often to their own detriment.
The COVID crisis presents a special challenge to parents of very young children to shield them from unseen germs that could adversely affect their health and that of their older relatives. Thankfully, youngsters seem to be minimally impacted compared to other age groups, but their ability to carry and spread the disease is certainly cause for special concern.
All of us have gained a renewed appreciation for cleanliness through handwashing, disinfecting surfaces, and being careful to not touch our faces. Tiny germs that can only be seen with a microscope can gain access to our bodies and heightened vigilance is required to minimize our risks and protect our health. Suddenly, we’ve all become clean freaks.
These relatively simple steps can remind us of God’s calls to spiritual purity. Throughout the Old Testament Law, God instituted various procedures to protect both the physical and spiritual health of the Israelites. As they obeyed these commands, they were often spared various diseases and ailments from which their pagan neighbors suffered.
As we look back on those regulations we recognize God’s standards for purity and holiness and we see His desire for their own protection and prosperity. While many prohibitions shielded them physically, it’s also apparent that certain actions could contaminate and sicken their souls as well. As such, God instructed them to have nothing to do with the cultic practices and evil idolatry of their neighbors and remain true to Him.
Although Old Testament dietary and ritualistic laws pertain primarily to Jews, it’s clear from various New Testament writers and from Jesus Himself that His followers are to keep themselves pure and holy as well. Jesus’ brother, James, tells Christians to keep unspotted or unpolluted from the world. Not to spoil our fun, but to spare us great pain.
Paul tells us in Philippians 2:15 to be blameless and pure and John too instructs us to purify ourselves. Just as our bodies can be damaged or killed by various viruses, our souls are sickened and damaged by sin of any type. Although we may not even be able to discern the harm in certain activities, our all-knowing Father has warned us to avoid them for our own wellbeing.
We would never think of licking our shoes after visiting the barnyard or sucking on our shopping carts. Even considering such actions repulses us. We are well aware of the multitude of microbes that could be lurking in those places. And yet, too often we ignore God’s warnings and ingest spiritual contaminants that can devastate our souls.
For these reasons, Paul tells us in I Thessalonians to be spiritual clean freaks by not just avoiding evil, but even its appearance. Just as we want to stay as far away from COVID or Ebola as possible, we should avoid all sin at all costs.
Paul also tells us to think about how our behavior might influence others. Just like some folks are asymptomatic to COVID and are not impacted, some believers are not vulnerable to certain temptations. Nevertheless, asymptomatic individuals can still pass the virus on to others and so too other believers might fall into sin because of our cavalier examples. God forbid that others die physically from my carelessness, and even more so to be crippled by sinful behavior that I inconsiderately modeled for them.
As we remain vigilant regarding COVID infection and take wise steps to keep ourselves and others physically healthy, let this remind us to keep ourselves pure and clean before God that our souls and those of others would not be sickened. Let’s maintain both physical and spiritual purity.
Blessings, George