1075) Once upon a time, my husband was moving a sawhorse and got a nasty splinter in his thumb. He did his best to get it out and afterward, we both forgot about it. A few days later, he came to me and showed me his thumb. It was red and swollen, so I set to work on it with disinfectant and a sharp needle. As I poked the area, the infection oozed out, carrying the splinter with it. It was a sight I cannot forget.

As I was studying Ephesians 5:3-7 for this minute, I discovered that partnering with impurity can be translated from the Greek to mean oozing infection. Practically speaking, infection comes when something foreign, in the sense of not belonging there, finds its way in. Spiritually, this has so many applications. When we allow things in our lives that we know are contrary to what God has told us is not best for us, we are inviting infections or impurity in.

Why would you take a sharp, dirty piece of wood and jam it into your finger? You wouldn’t. Why would you knowingly allow things you know are wrong in your life? You shouldn’t. Partnering with impurity is a bad thing.