If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?'” And the priests answered, “No.” Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.” (Haggai 2:12, 13 NASB)
Holiness or goodness cannot be passed on. It is an internal state that is not defined by the things that one is associated with. This implies that a person who goes to church religiously, or only hangs out with reputable godly people is not deemed as holy. It is someone who understands and accepts the work of Christ on the cross, that His blood has cleansed us through and through, and in obedience, walks in the truth of this is considered holy and sanctified.
On the contrary, evil is by association as it is contagious. It is interesting to note that evil or sin is transferable simply by contact. This is probably best illustrated by water. A cup of clean spring water is completely contaminated if a dirty spoon is used to stir it. Call us naive, by thinking that a little naughty or bad stuff will not do much harm… But in actual fact, the little has already contaminated us without knowing.
It is so easy to be infected by evil or sin yet it is such an arduous task to walk in holiness. Brings to mind the teaching of Jesus about the narrow path to eternal live vs the broad and easy way to destruction. Good reminder to self for this new year…
very well said God be with you all