The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Haggai 2:11-14, “’Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Ask now the priests for a ruling:

12 ‘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.”

13 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.’

Then Haggai said, ‘So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the

LORD, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.’”

The LORD is concerned that the people of Haggai’s day were living in luxurious

houses, but the LORD’s house (the Temple) was in a ruinous condition. Read

verse 12 carefully. If holy meat touches (unholy) bread, does the bread become

holy? No. Then verse 13 asks if a person who is unholy, say from touching a

corpse, touches food or drink of any kind, does that food or drink become holy?

Again the priests say no. The principle here is this: Righteousness is not

contagious, but unrighteousness is. If a known godly man gave you $10,000,

you would not suspect anything wrong. But if a known drug dealer gave you

that same amount, you would (or should) be very suspicious that it was dirty money.

Thus, when the unholy people of Haggai’s day gave anything to the LORD, He

saw what they were giving as unholy and, therefore, what they offered Him was

unacceptable. Whatever we do for the LORD must be come from holy lives;

even if it appears to be acceptable, it is not.

May we all be acceptable to the LORD today,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas