Devotional Message

"A Little Yeast"

"Whoever therefore eats from the bread of the lord God and drinks from his cup and is unworthy of it, is guilty for the blood of the lord God and for his body. ²⁸ Because of this, let a man search his soul, and then eat of this bread and drink from this cup." 1 Corinthians 11:27-28

When Paul says "let a man search his soul" here he is making a reference to the Old Testament that most Christians do not understand.

The Old Covenant required the people to make sure there was no yeast or yeast products in their homes before Passover and for the week that followed. This was a physical exercise to remind them of a spiritual requirement - to make sure they had no sin growing in them when they partook of the Passover meal.

In the Bible, yeast has always symbolized something that starts very small but grows and grows. Sin is exactly that way. If we give it a chance to take root, it will grow and eventually change us completely. The classic example of this is King David and Bathsheba. What started with a desire for a woman turned into adultery and murder.

The Jews made this search for yeast into a game of sorts and it continues to this time. The father hides something with yeast in it somewhere in the house. Then the family begins their search of the entire house. The father knows they have been thorough when they find what he has hidden.

If only searching for sin in our lives was so easy. We tend to excuse our sins or justify them in some way. It's hard to find them when we've hidden them ourselves. You would think those would be the easy ones to find but we don't find them because we don't want to find them.

This year let's really search our souls.