A boy left home one Saturday morning with these special instructions: “Son, we are having pictures taken at 11:30; don’t get dirty.” The little guy peddled down the street intending only to say hello to a couple of friends.
It had rained the night before, so he rode slowly with effort to avoid any water that might be transferred to his clothing from the spinning tires. He also avoided the street where the neighborhood “bully” lived, knowing that, given the opportunity, he would try to throw some vile substance on his clean clothes. Several neighbor boys called out to him, but he would not dare join them now, he must return home clean.
At his first stop, he found the kids helping their mom decorate cupcakes. At their invitation, he decided to stay long enough to produce one work of art himself, which he was allowed to take home.
During his second stop, since his friend wasn’t really doing anything, they just sat and talked while he stroked their family cat.
One last visit afforded him the opportunity to take a spin on his best friend’s new go-cart. What a blast! …but only in the grass mind you.
Upon his return home, he felt proud that he was 15 minutes early, but his countenance changed when he saw the look of horror on his mother’s face. He was puzzled until she pointed out the chocolate on his neck and the collar of his white shirt, the cat hair that was so plentiful that she knew that the neighbor’s cat must now be bald, and then there was the grease splattered over his back, …the kind of grease one might put on the chain of a go-cart.
This little story serves as a parable of the Christian who lives in a world of spiritual corruption with a mandate to keep clean. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (2Corinthians 6:17).” Consider how easily one might get dirty at a friend’s house.