It's a battle every mother has fought in every generation. It's that three-word charge that can mean the difference between getting sick or being well - "wash your hands." Of course, it would be okay with most kids if washing their hands was an annual event to be celebrated only prior to Christmas dinner. I have reason to believe that if my six year old son was never told to wash his hands, he never would. He comes in from doing who knows what with those hands and says, "They're not dirty." As long as there is no green slime dripping from his little hands he feels fine about them, but you can be sure they're carrying plenty of nasty little critters. And it's amazing what happens when you get some soap and water on those hands - the sink is suddenly covered with some pretty yucky-looking stuff. Surprise, kid - you couldn't see it, but your hands were dirty. You just didn't realize how dirty!

In II Chronicles 30, verses13 through 26, we find a story similar to my son’s dirty hands. Some folks who thought they were clean found out about some dirt they didn't know they were carrying. It's the time of King Hezekiah, one of the greatest of Judah's rulers. When he takes the throne, the nation is a moral and spiritual sewer, with idolatrous altars literally on every street corner. But Hezekiah turns his entire culture around and leads the people into a powerful, national revival.

It started with the spiritual leaders. After cleaning out the neglected and defiled temple of God, Hezekiah calls the people together for a national Passover celebration. It had been a long time since the people of God had observed this holy remembrance of God's deliverance. The spiritual leaders, the priests and the Levites, began to prepare for this holy moment. The Old Testament account relates that they slaughtered the Passover lamb . . . The priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the Lord. Then they took up their regular positions.

Here the leaders are, in the middle of preparing for a service, and suddenly they stop what they're doing. They're ashamed. Suddenly, they are deeply aware of their own sin, their own compromise, their own failures. What do they do to get over the shame? They sanctify themselves to God . . . they get rid of their false idols, vain altars for incense and cast them into a river.

There's something very powerful here - something that any of us who have been given any spiritual leadership needs to absorb. Like these priests and Levites, you may have been entrusted with some spiritual responsibility - teaching, leading, parenting, preaching, counseling, organizing or administering in the Lord’s work. Look what happened to the spiritual leaders in Hezekiah's day. As they began to handle the most holy things of God, they realized they were not worthy enough to handle it! They didn't realize what dirt there was on their hands until they began to handle the sacred things of God.

That's exactly what should be happening to you and me as we do the work God has given us - seeing the dirt we need to deal with before we handle the holy things. We need to always remember we are handling the very things of God, such as our callings, or our children. We must not ever let our work for Him become careless, mechanical, self-serving. It's a solemn - even dangerous - mistake to handle the holy things of God without clean hands. The Doctrine and Covenants teaches us to be clean if we are to "bear the vessels of the Lord." (D&C 38:42, also see Isaiah 52:11) This emphasizes the teachings of Nephi when he said that the day will come when all will believe in Christ, and worship the Father in his name, with a pure heart and clean hands. (2 Nephi 25:16) The book of Job also tells us that those who have clean hands will become stronger and stronger. (Job 17:9) This simple verse, from a man who faced more adversity than most of us, is a great testimony that great strength can be found in having clean hands. This gives us hope in making ourselves stronger in our testimonies, stronger in our faith in the Lord, and stronger in service to God and others.

Serving is not fun-and-games or just a little spiritual exercise. It requires a holy life, a pure heart, clean hands and a contrite spirit. Service produces a holy life, if we let it sink in. What an incredible honor it is to be asked by God to handle what is His holy work, regardless of our calling.

Like a child, you may look at what people can see of you and say, "My hands aren't dirty." But let your Savior begin to show you what you're doing that He can't bless - let Him cleanse your hands before you touch the sacred things of God.

My son knows that he shouldn’t handle food without clean hands. And we as children of God and followers of Him, should know not handle the holy work of the Lord, without a pure heart and clean hands.