Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of man are what defile the man.
Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him; because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?
That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. - Mark 7
For one just returning from Haiti, this is GREAT news, to know that none of the soot and muck we gather traversing that land stains me. This is an encouragement, that what was embedded on my skin, in my hair and on my clothes does not affect my heart. As well, it removes an impediment before me which attempts to keep us away from the unclean world.
There is no unclean world, only unclean people. I have cleansed your heart and you will not be stained by the world. Go into the world, amidst the dirt which will cake your skin... and be a heart-cleansing source for others.
Our position before the Lord God Almighty is not based upon the state of our hands, our clothes, or our body; nor is it based upon our activities or inactivities. Rather, our cleanliness is "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe... being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ."