C. Diff.

Daily Reading: 1 Corinthians 5-6

Scripture Focus: Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump (1 Corinthians 5.6b-7a)

Devotional Thought: A few weeks ago I visited a friend in the hospital. There was a sign on the door instructing me to 'glove and gown' and to see the nurse before entering. I did, and I was told by the nurse that the patient had C. Diff., a highly contagious infection. In addition to the gown and gloves, I needed to wash my hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds when I left the room. Hand sanitizer was not enough. If I didn't want to get sick, I needed to physically wash the bacteria away.

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is dealing with a situation in the church at Corinth that was highly contagious: moral carelessness. He told the Corinthians that 'hand sanitizer' was not enough. They needed to physically cleanse out the old leaven. In that situation, the person involved was an unrepentant leader in the church. He needed to be dealt with decisively so that sin would not spread throughout the congregation.

The same thing is true in our own lives. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." We need to deal with sin in a decisive manner. We cannot simply apply 'sanitizers' while leaving it in place. Sin in one area of our lives has a way of infecting all the other areas of our lives. It has to go!

Thank God for the blood of Jesus that washes us whiter than snow! "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 4.7).

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, that you shed your blood for the forgiveness of my sin. Help me to cleanse out all the old leaven so that I may walk in newness of life. Amen.

Psalm of the Day: 1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. (Psalms 107:1-3)