I read those words this morning and my brain came to a screeching halt. They come from Haggai 2:12-13. Something cannot be made holy by merely touching the thing with the holy thing. However, an unclean person touching something will make it unclean. This is the Old Testament, and it has far reaching meaning into the New Testament such as the old adage "One bad apple will spoil the whole barrel." Any sales executive knows that one person with a bad attitude can infect the whole floor of sales representatives, or clerks, or secretaries which will infect everyone else. It is contagious.
This is exactly why the world can have such power over Christians. The ways of the world insidiously creep into our thought processes and we think, "What's the harm in that?" First thinking about it, then the thoughts consume our mind, then action follows thought and without actually realizing it, we've become entangled in Satan's World Wide Web.
Righteousness is not contagious, nor can it be transferred to another by sheer will power or thought process or even prayer. Our own righteousness is our own by birth right, being born again into the Spirit through the blood of Christ. It is individual, personal, and directed to each soul. We need do only one thing which is believe God exists (which must happen before anyone can be saved) and believe in Jesus. God does everything else.
In order to live the abundant life provided by Jesus, one must unlock every secret compartment of the heart and allow God to fill that God-sized hole in the soul. Keeping one part unsurrendered will hinder Christian living and God's power in your life. It is very similar to two people rowing a single boat in opposite directions. Unless there is a current stronger than one of the rowers, the boat goes no where and if the strongest rower, rows against the current the boat's forward motion slows to a crawl. It's like the two steps forward and one step back; progress is half what it could be. Surrender and live abundantly, full of joy.
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