IF YOU PLAY IN THE DIRT YOU ARE GONNA GET DIRTY

"I [God] form the light and create darkness, I make peace and I create evil, I am the LORD who does all of these" (Isaiah 45:7) 

If a child or any animal plays in the dirt they are going to get dirty. They are going to need to wash off.  But that's OK.

Dry dirt you may just dust off.  Mud is more difficult, it needs to be washed off.

Some dirt is more difficult to remove than other. There is dirt that is downright toxic and requires that we wear protection, like gloves or a face mask.  There is dirt that is so hazardous that it requires a Haz-Mat suite, for example when cleaning mold.

In life there is Good and Evil. Evil is like dirt. It is all around us. We can't entirely avoid it. It will get on us. We can try to keep it away - to protect ourselves. We have to regularly wash it off us - like we wash our hands.

Office Mezzuzah 

We can take steps to protect ourselves and our home from dirt and evil. Such as Jews do with a Mezzuzah (see footnote) that we put on our door posts and entrance gate.

Evil is constantly lerking around to get us. Evil has its eye on us, perpetually looking for a way in, a portal opening into our life and a chance to rob our soul.

Hamsa in window

Since ancient times human beings have sensed the dynamic with good and evil. The hamsa is a prehistoric symbol and an example of humankind's instinctual sence of the evil eye watching us.

The hamsa also represents our desire to guard our surroundings from evil. Like a Mezzuzah, many Jews and gentiles hang the hamsa around their homes and wear them as jewelry.

Staying mindful of God is a great way we protect ourselves of Evil. Wearing a Kippah is a way to stay mindful. Saying prayers daily is another.

I believe that making time for Shabbat, lighting the Shabbas candles in our home, is a tremendous way to clean our home of evil. When we recieve the Sabbath Queen into our home we are inviting the Spirit (God) into our home. The Spirit is going to clean our home by driving out evil. In a sense it is analogous to having a super maid coming in that cleans our entire home.

We must be careful where we go and what we bring into our lives. There are some places and some topics that are dirtier than others. For example, a strip club is about as dirty a place a man can go. If a man walks in he will lust after women. If he is married he has a major clean up job to do!

Pornograhy is a similar evil problem.  The Internet makes it so easy to get dirty.

Politics is a very dirty subject. There are lots of nasty people in that field. Some have a good heart and they go into politics in an attempt to clean things up. If those folks don't have heavy "protection" they are going to get dirty - they will get infected. They must wash the evil off. If they stay in politics too long it is practically impossible for them to stay clean. That's one reason for term limits.

And when it comes to politics I am talking about ALL politics, regardless of Party!  Politics by its nature divides us - it separates us. That's what evil does - it pits us against one another. Politics will pit two good people against one another. That's how evil wins!  Evil doesn't care if you are a Democrat or a Republican.

Evil wins by increasing your emotions EITHER WAY!  Evil thrives on disagreement. People seem to be losing the ability to disagree in constructive ways. I think that is the work of Evil.

Some people can't deal with people on the other political side. But the key point I want to make is it doesn't matter what side either way!  Even if one is in a room with ONLY people on their same political side, they are still in the dirt. Evil surrounds them.  Some of us simply can't handle it and are best to stay out of the room altogether.

The news media and Hollywood are continuously dragging us INTO the dirt! 

Furthermore, if any of us thinks we have the knowledge to judge good and evil, think again.

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.
Robert Schuller

In Judaism we speak if the yetzer hara (יֵצֶר הַרַע), the inclination to do evil. But that phrase is drawn from the phrase "the imagination of the the heart of man is evil." (See Genesis 6:5, 8:21).

In closing, for me, I obviously speak about politics. I do things to protect myself. And I take time wash off.  But I have no false illusion.  I am in the dirt!  Please pray for me. 🙏💗

For every deed God will bring to judgment-for every hidden thing, whether good or bad. Ecclesiastes 12:14

Mezzuzah on front door post

Footnote:

And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts ("mezuzot") of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be prolonged upon the land which the L-rd swore to give to your fathers for as long as the heavens are above the earth (Deuteronomy 11:20-21).

According to the Tosafot and the Shulchan Aruch, the main function of the mezuzah is to protect the house from evil. Because of this attribute, the mezuzah has been called "the coat of arms in the knighthood of G‑d." To begin to understand the mechanism of this effect of the mezuzah, we must first delve into the concept of evil itself.