HAGGAI 2:13

“Then Haggai said, If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these things, will the latter become unclean?’ And the priests answered, ‘It will become unclean.’”

I was driving down a back country road recently when I started smelling this horrible smell. I instantly looked around in my truck, wondering if I had left something in there that had spoiled. Then I saw it. There was a dead animal beside the road that had obviously been there a few days. The stench from that carcass was wafting up and down that road for miles. I felt unclean just driving past it.

So, the second question gets asked of the priests. This time about passing uncleanness onto something. Remember, yesterday’s verse asked about transferring holiness which the priests answered in the negative. But here, the same action can transfer uncleanness, according to them. The teaching moment – it is a lot easier to transfer your sins. Only God can make something holy, but we can affect others through our actions.

APPLICATION

I want to ask you a personal question. Have you ever caused someone else to sin because of your own sin? Have you influenced others negatively? It is so easy to do that. Our actions have consequences, not only on ourselves, but potentially on others. I saw that far too often when I was working with children. Their parents’ choices influenced the children to follow the same sinful patterns.

In Matthew 18:6, Jesus tells us, “‘but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea.’” That is pretty harsh, isn’t it? But I believe Jesus meant that. You see, our uncleanness can affect others.

Now, you can’t transfer your sins onto someone else. Everyone is responsible for their own sins. We are all born sinners (Romans 3:23). But our lesson for today is to be careful how we walk so that we do not influence anyone towards sin. That would be sin for us.

Lord, keep me focused on living for You so that I can influence others to live holy lives.