Read Haggai 2:10-19
When a child eats spaghetti sauce, very soon his or her face, hands, and clothes become red. Sin and selfish attitudes produce the same result: They stain everything they touch. Even good deeds done for God can be tainted by sinful attitudes. The only remedy is God’s cleansing.
The point of this message is that holiness will not rub off on others, but contamination will. As the people began to obey God, God promised to encourage and prosper them. But they needed to understand that activities in the Temple would not clean up their sin; only repentance and obedience would do that. If we insist on harboring wrong attitudes and sins or on maintaining close relationships with sinful people, we will be defiled. Holy living will come only when we are empowered by God’s Holy Spirit.
The people relaid the Temple foundation, and immediately God blessed them. He did not wait for the project to be completed. God often sends His encouragement and approval with our first few obedient steps. He is eager to bless us.