8月4日

標　　題：手潔心清

經　　節：誰能登耶和華的山？誰能站在祂的聖所？就是手潔心清……的人。（詩篇廿四篇3∼4節）

神嚴格地要求那些想要享受與神有親密關係的人。那些手不潔、心不清的人很難見到神。倘若耽溺於罪惡及厚顏地違背神的話，又膽敢厚顏無恥地進入至聖所，這是公然地侮辱神。在舊約時代，一個人的手代表一個人的作為。清潔的手象徵純全的作為。祭司要進入聖殿服事之前，要洗手。這象徵著，只有那些潔淨的人，才能敬拜聖潔的神。

親近神是有層次的。當你成為基督徒的那一刻，你與神開始創建關係。然而，如果你繼續犯罪，罪會隔離你與神，阻攔你享受與神親密的關係。倘若你僅僅遵循神基本的命令，卻每回都拒絕神給予你的特別個人指示，那麼你永遠不能與神創建更深的關係。若像詩篇中的詩人，瞭解神的聖潔，你會照著祂的標準去調整自己的生命，立即回應祂的指示，好與祂創建更深的關係。

愈親近神，對自己的小罪就愈敏銳。愈瞭解神的本性，就愈瞭解在朝見神以前，手潔心清的重要性。

你是否願意讓全能神使你在祂面前全然潔淨，好能享受與祂最親密的關係？

Clean Hands; a Pure Heart

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. (Psalms 24:3-4a)

God has rigid requirements for those who want to enjoy intimate fellowship with Him. There is no easy access to God for those with unclean hands or an impure heart. It is an affront to holy God to assume that we can indulge in our sin and blatantly disobey His word, then brazenly enter the holy of holies. In Old Testament times, one’s hands represented one’s activities. Clean hands symbolized pure activities. Priests washed their hands before serving in the temple to symbolize that only those who were cleansed could worship holy God.

There are levels of intimacy with God. The moment you become a Christian you begin a relationship with the Lord. However, if you persist in your sin, sin will separate you from God and keep you from enjoying close fellowship with Him. If you follow only God’s basic commandments but resist every time God gives you specific, personal directions, you will never fully experience the depths of God’s Person. If, however, you are like the psalmist and understand the holiness of God, you will adjust your life to His standards and respond to His prompting so that you may have deeper fellowship with Him.

The closer you get to holy God, the more obvious even your smallest sins become. The more you know of God’s character, the more you will realize the need to wash your hands and purify your heart before you can get close to Him.

Are you willing for almighty God to make you absolutely pure before Him so that you can enjoy the maximum possible relationship with Him?