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Last week I wrote about the difficult and painful issue of sudden death. Therefore, I thought we needed something lighter and uplifting this week. I decided to write about the Five-Second Rule. We’ve all been there. Our favorite food slips from our fingers, landing on the floor. Our instinctive reaction is to snatch it up quickly, muttering, “Five-second rule!” as though the food’s brief contact with the ground somehow shields it from contamination. Find out what the five-second rule has to do with our spiritual life in today’s message.

You probably already know that science doesn’t back up the five-second rule. Bacteria can transfer to food almost instantly, especially to items with wet surfaces like apple slices. The “five-second rule” is less about hygiene and more about wishful thinking—a comforting narrative that helps us justify eating something we really want.

But what if we look at this from a spiritual perspective? Consider Jesus Christ, who came to dwell on this broken, sinful earth. Unlike the food we drop, Jesus’s contact with the “ground” of our humanity did not contaminate Him. Instead, He transformed the world and made it holy. In this way, the “five-second rule” serves as an intriguing metaphor for how Jesus’s incarnation and baptism defy contamination and bring healing.

When Jesus came to Earth, He entered a world that had been profoundly corrupted by sin. Humanity, like food dropped on the ground, had been “contaminated” through disobedience to God. Yet Jesus, fully human and fully divine, was immune to the corruption of sin. Despite living in the midst of human brokenness, He remained pure, untainted by the fallen world.

This truth is both profound and hopeful. Jesus did not merely avoid sin; He conquered it. By stepping into our reality, He brought light into darkness, healing to the broken, and redemption to the lost. In John 1:5 it states, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  Rather than being “contaminated” by the sinful world, Jesus sanctified it through His presence and actions. Metaphorically speaking, Jesus is Lysol for the world. He destroys sin’s germs.

A powerful example of this is found in Jesus’s baptism. In Matthew 3:14, when John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching the Jordan River, John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” John recognized that baptism was a ritual of repentance, and Jesus had no sin to repent of. Why, then, would the sinless Son of God submit to it?

Jesus’s baptism was not about cleansing Himself; it was about sanctifying the waters for us. By entering the Jordan River, Jesus transformed it into a source of spiritual renewal. The very act of His baptism prefigured His ultimate mission: to take on the sins of the world and bring redemption to all who would follow Him. Just as Jesus’s holiness was not diminished by touching the water, so too His holiness sanctified the water and made it a means of grace for others.

The “five-second rule” may be a myth when it comes to hygiene, but it can remind us of an essential spiritual truth: contact with sin does not define Jesus; instead, Jesus defines the outcome of that contact. In the same way, when we encounter Christ, His holiness has the power to transform us. We don’t remain “dropped” or contaminated; we are picked up, restored, and made new.

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus invites us into a new life where we are no longer bound by sin. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” This transformation is not temporary or superficial; it is a complete renewal, one that reverses the contamination of sin and makes us holy.

Unlike food dropped on the floor, we are not doomed to remain in our fallen state. Jesus entered our brokenness to bring healing and restoration. His presence sanctifies and transforms, making what was once lost into something holy and beautiful. Just as the “five-second rule” can’t save our food from contamination, we cannot save ourselves from the effects of sin. But Jesus can—and He does.

Next time we hear someone mention the “five-second rule,” let’s take a moment to reflect on the deeper truth it unintentionally mirrors. Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection show us that contamination by sin is not the end of the story. In Him, there is hope, healing, and redemption—not just for a moment, but for eternity.

Heavenly Father, I invite Jesus into my life. Allow His light to shine in the darkest places in my soul. Allow my faith in Him to make me a new creation. Allow His mercy to forgive my sins, not just for 5 seconds, but for all of eternity. Amen!

AMDG 

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Brian Pusateri

Brian is a Christian author and speaker. Brian, a lifelong Catholic, felt his life was forever changed when God spoke to his heart while attending an eight day silent Christian retreat in November of 2011. Soon after that retreat Brian founded 4th Day Letters and Broken Door Ministries. With the God inspired message of mercy and unconditional love that was placed on his heart during that retreat, Brian has been impacting others all over the country and around the world with his weekly letters, his talks, and his all day Christian retreats. In June of 2014, Brian’s life was again impacted in a very dramatic way when his eyesight suddenly became permanently impaired. The initial diagnosis was Multiple Scleroses (MS) but in December of 2019 the diagnosis was corrected to MOG antibody disease, a rare neurological disease. This health challenge has only served to draw Brian closer to God and bolster the importance of this timely yet ageless message.

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