Wicked wiles and clean hands

I often quote sayings from Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” such as the dwarfs’ response to Snow White’s question about when they last had washed their hands, which was, “Recently.” I also like Grumpy’s response to Bashful’s question, “What are wicked wiles?” which was, “I don’t know, but I’m agin ‘em!” While Grumpy was referring to the behavior of even angelic-appearing females being poison, he was on target about being against wicked wiles.

Satan and his minions appear as angels of light (truth), whether or not they know they’re his minions (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). We must be careful about what we hear and how we hear it because their words are poison (Mark 4:23-24). Recently, I half-heard a news story seeming to quote a 2020 presidential hopeful as saying he was in favor of climate change. I know I didn’t hear the whole story, and I hope he wasn’t stating his support for the negative aspects of climate change (some people are in favor of change merely for the sake of change, but this example is extreme). I’m actually in favor of potential positive effects of climate change in regard to the possibility of greater precipitation for our area, as is happening in some places, and higher crop yields, but we must be careful what we support because of the possible negative effects (Romans 3:8).

Jesus said whoever wasn’t with him was against him (Matthew 12:30). There’s no middle ground; if you’re not gathering, you’re scattering. Even those who think they’re on the right track won’t go to heaven if they haven’t verified and done God’s will (Matthew 7:21-27). If we’re with God, he’ll be with us, and even Satan can’t harm or mislead us (Romans 8:31-39; 2 Peter 1:3-11; 3:17-18; John 10:27-28). The Berean Christians were commended by God through Luke’s writings for their diligence in verifying what they’d been taught (Acts 17:11; Luke 8:11-15).

Believe it or not, washing our hands regularly, which includes recognizing they’re dirty and not fit for safe living, is akin to the scriptural mandate for Christians – those who’ve been previously cleansed - to acknowledge our sin and seek God’s continued forgiveness. No matter how hard we try to avoid sin, once we’ve been initially cleansed by immersion in water to unite ourselves with Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection to have our past sins forgiven, having confessed him as Lord (Acts 2:38-39; 8:36-39; 22:16; Romans 6:3-5; 10:8-13), we’ll still need the continual cleansing of Jesus’ blood (John 13:2-10; 1 John 1:5-9; 2:1-3; 5:3; Hebrews 10:19-23; 4:14-16; James 4:7-10). Recognizing our sin and continued need for God’s grace is a component of the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper, but it isn’t limited to that celebration; it should be done whenever we’re aware of our sin (1 Corinthians 11:23-31; Acts 20:7; Hebrews 3:7-14).

Do you pay attention to what you hear to protect yourself against Satan’s wicked wiles? Do you wash your hands regularly because you fell to his wicked wiles (Psalm 24:3-6)?

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]