A little yeast leavens the whole lump of dough.     Galatians 5:9 HCSB

Just the word yeast can cause my mouth to water. I have never tried to cook with yeast, but my grandmother used to make these big yeast rolls that were to die for.

Many diets discourage eating foods made with yeast.

During the first Passover, the Israelites were instructed to eat only unleavened bread. They were even instructed to remove it from their homes for the week after the Passover.

One reasons the Israelites were instructed to eat unleavened bread was they had no time for the dough to rise. Another reason was leaven or yeast was a symbol of impurity to the Jews.

Yeast is an image of sin. If you look at how yeast works and how sin works, you see many similarities. Warren Weirsbe looked at these comparisons in his book, Be Delivered. Both yeast and sin are hidden. You don’t see them, but they are there. Both works silently and secretly. Both spread and pollute. Yeast causes dough to rise and puff up. Sin typically causes the sinner to become puffed up with pride. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:18, “Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.” Other versions say, “inflated with pride.”

When Paul said in our Scripture passage for today, a little yeast leavens the whole lump, he was referring to false teachers teaching false doctrine. False doctrine is dangerous because of the way it spreads and pollutes entire congregations.

In Matthew 16:6, Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Yeast in the Bible is compared to false teaching, hypocrisy and sinful living. What Paul is saying here in our Scripture passage for today is a little bit can go a long way. Sin is like that. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Sin will take you farther than you wanted to go, cost you more than you wanted to pay, and keep you longer than you wanted to stay.”

We often incorrectly think that a little bit of sin doesn’t matter. Or we think just because this preacher’s doctrine is a little off it will be okay. Well, that’s not the case. We have to be careful of dabbling in sinful behavior. We often prefer to listen to false doctrine because false teachers tell us sin is okay (2 Timothy 4:3).

Sin is sin. When we willingly sin or intentionally sin, we are disobeying God. There is no such thing as being a little disobedient.

King Saul had a problem with being a little disobedient. The prophet Samuel often was frustrated with Saul’s disobedience and told him in 1 Samuel 15:22 that God prefers obedience over sacrifice. There is an old saying that it is better to beg forgiveness than permission. This is not the case with God.

God’s word is very clear. His commands are not confusing. They are not suggestions they are commands. We are either obedient or we are disobedient.

We must not tolerate even a little deviation from the true gospel found in the Bible. We must not tolerate false teaching. We also must purge ourselves of any intentional sin before it spreads and pollutes our lives. We can even cause others to stumble when we sin.

A little bit goes a long way. Be very careful not to allow a little bit of false teaching or a little bit of sin into your life. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory. We have the sin of omission where we fail to do something we should do and the sin of commission when we do something we shouldn’t do.

Once we surrender our lives to Jesus, however, we should strive not to sin. We should strive to remove any intentional sin from our life. God told the Israelites for this Passover and the celebrations of Passover to follow to remove every trace of leaven from their house. He wants us to do the same with our sin to the best of our ability.

The only way we can do this is with His help. Surrender your life to Him today.

Have a great day!