Imagine that you’re preparing to bake a few loaves of pita bread for a dinner party. When you get to the batch of dough, you’re devastated because somehow a bit of yeast got into the mix and has corrupted the whole batch. Now instead of the hearty, flat bread you were intending, you are stuck with a fluffy, less flavorful and less nutritious result.
St. Paul used this image to compare the Corinthians’ old way of life to a lump of dough. He cautioned them against allowing a bit of yeast— sin—to remain in them and corrupt their new life in Christ.
This image of unleavened bread would have been very familiar to the members of the Corinthian church who were Jewish Christians. It would have reminded them of their Feast of Unleavened Bread, where all the leavened bread is completely removed from the house, and families eat only unleavened bread for the duration of the feast. It was meant as a reminder of the unleavened bread their ancestors ate during the exodus, when God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Paul took this image and adapted it into an image of the Christian life: just as God rescued the Hebrews and brought them into the Promised Land, so Jesus has rescued us from sin and given us a new life of purity.
Our lives are meant to include a daily clearing out of the “old yeast,” so that we can become a fresh batch of dough. Like yeast, just a little bit of sin has the power to infect the whole “batch” of our lives. That’s also why Paul later told the Corinthians to “take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5). The sooner we can screen what goes on in our minds, the better chance we have of staying pure and upright before the Lord.
Are there one or two areas in your life that have the potential of robbing you of your peace or ruining your whole day? Try to catch these areas before they get folded into your day. Whenever you see them rise up, try to take them captive. Ask Jesus to give you victory over them. With his help, you can stop the yeast before it is “activated”!
“Father, give me your grace so that I can live in your victory today.”
Psalm 5:5-7, 12; Luke 6:6-11