Most of us have heard and repeated the famous “five-second” rule. According to prevailing “wisdom,” any food dropped on the floor is still safe to eat if it is retrieved within five seconds. Supposedly, four seconds on the floor does not allow enough time for harmful bacteria and other problematic substances to infect our French fries or potato chips.
According to Professor Paul Dawson at Clemson University, however, this conventional wisdom is not entirely accurate. In some instances, it may be perfectly safe but in others, it is just the opposite. It turns out that moist and sticky foods like deli meats and peanut butter pie are going to attract more nasties in a shorter time than drier foods like toast or pop tarts. While research has shown that shorter exposures to whatever’s on our floors is generally safer, it’s no guarantee that the anticipated deliciousness of that dropped fork-full won’t contain something that will sicken you.
As you contemplate the risks of relishing that dainty from the floor, consider where you have walked before you sat down in that restaurant or at your kitchen table. Sidewalks where people spat? Bathrooms that needed custodial attention? Grocery stores kept spotless with powerful chemicals? Work zones with collections of miscellaneous cuttings and waste? Then add the gathered goodies from the shoes of your children and the feet of your pets who may be even less discerning in choosing their steps. Is that one bite really worth it?
Because it doesn’t take much bacteria to make us seriously sick, it’s probably a better idea to clean up what we’ve dropped and deposit it in the garbage. One lost bite will not cast us into malnutrition or starvation. In fact, most of us would do better with fewer bites anyway.
While we can and should be very finicky about what goes into our mouths, we are often much less particular about what we consume with our eyes and ears. We’re not going to contract diarrhea through these channels, but our minds can certainly become contaminated to a point of severe sin-sickness. Many that would never consider eating cake off a rest area floor might think nothing of viewing porn on a phone. Others who would never spoon caviar off kitchen tile consider it no big deal to consume large amounts of violence and wickedness from their television.
There’s also the more subtle temptation of being sucked into the banter and vitriol of politics on social media. Most news outlets regularly charge their articles, broadcasts, and podcasts with revved up emotion sure to spark anger. And while we should be outraged by injustice and lies, we must never allow these to infect us with the poison of bitterness, hatred, and fury.
The spiritual disease spawned by these various pathogens begins to rot our souls and creates large abscesses that fester and grow if left untreated. While we may dismiss the potential damage from sinful influences, their impact on our lives can be enormous, eventually impacting our mental functioning, physical health, and social relationships. Sin ultimately results in eternal suffering and misery.
Thankfully, there is a cure! Jesus died to provide a complete remedy for sin’s infection! His sacrificial death on the cross made it possible for all the poisonous byproducts of sin’s impact to be nullified and cleansed. Instead of harmful pus and vile drainage, the medicine of Jesus’ forgiveness sponges away all contamination and leaves behind spiritual health and wholeness. God’s Word assures us that we are healed by His wounds.
But like every other treatment, we must avail ourselves of it. While most septic patients willingly receive whatever help doctors and nurses can offer, many that are sin-sick resist the work of the Greatest Physician. If you realize that sloppy habits of eating filth off our culture’s floor has spiritually sickened you, invite Jesus to rid you of this disease and bring total healing to your soul. Blessings, George