Keep Your Hands Clean

Last night, Joe and I watched a marathon of Magic School Bus episodes on DVD. We also had popcorn. It was a little bit stale, as it had been made a few days ago, but it was covered in a kind of peanut butter caramel, so it still tasted delicious. The problem was that when it was time to change the DVD, our hands were covered in caramel.

In life, and especially in the church, there are some things that can only be done with spiritually clean hands. Many of those things are priesthood ordinances, which can only be performed by worthy men who hold the priesthood. But anyone, male or female, may receive some those ordinances, though they, too, need to be worthy. Members of the church must meet a fairly high standard of worthiness to participate in the ordinances of the temple. And it's not just ordinances for which we need to stay clean. We also need to stay clean in order to enjoy the presence of the Spirit and receive personal revelation. In essence, our lives are so much more blessed when we keep ourselves morally clean.

On the other hand, that popcorn was pretty tasty.

Satan tries to make sin look appealing - more appealing, in the moment of temptation, than the blessings we could be worthy for by not sinning. And with tragic frequency, he succeeds. To be fair, the popcorn was tasty, and certain sins can be fun, but all sins (and excessive popcorn consumption) lead to long-term regrets. Even with just that one bowl of popcorn, I had some regrets. Pieces of popcorn kernels got stuck in my teeth and remained stuck there long after the popcorn was gone, not to mention the inconvenience of not being able to change the DVD. Actually, I was able to change the DVD, because I was careful to only eat the popcorn with one hand, so my other hand would be clean enough to change the DVD, but sin doesn't work that way. Whatever part of you commits the sin, the whole soul suffers as a result.

So, let's say you've eaten some popcorn, and you know you're going to have to change a DVD later, but now you hands are covered in caramel. What do you do? You wash your hands.

The repentance process can be long and difficult, so you may still miss out on a few opportunities for blessings between the time you start repenting and the time that you're finally clean again. But once the repentance process is complete, your hands will once again be clean, and you'll be ready to receive all the blessings that you had been missing, and though repentance can take a lot longer than washing your hands because many sins are more sticky than caramel, the sooner you get started, the sooner you'll be clean.

But if keeping your hand clean is the goal, especially when you never know when you'll need to change a DVD, perhaps it's best that you avoid the popcorn in the first place.

Avoiding sin can be difficult. Satan makes it seem harmless and even enjoyable. You have to be sharp to not be fooled by his tricks. But identifying the temptation is only half the battle. It often takes strong will-power and self-restraint to resist the temptation, even when you see it for what it is. But when you're faced with temptation, it might help you resist it if you think of the blessings you'll miss out on if you give in. Losing the presence of the spirit is an immediate drawback to most sins. Some sins can keep you from being worthy to partake of the Sacrament or to enter the Temple. And any sin dulls your spiritual sensitivity, making it harder to receive personal revelation. We stand to lose a lot when we give in to sin, and what do we get in return? A little bit of light refreshment and popcorn kernels stuck in your teeth. Bad trade. It doesn't even fill your stomach like normal food would. No, we're all better off not touching the popcorn, and keeping our hands clean enough to change DVDs.