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AUGUST
The Trouble with
Heaven
Lightly browned loaves of homemade bread had just come out of the
oven. Their heavenly aroma
moved through the air, zeroing in on my nose, which relayed a quick
message to my mouth, which started watering. I couldn’t wait to cut off a thick
slice and spread on the butter.
One of the most important ingredients in that bread is leaven. If you enjoy freshly baked bread,
you may wonder as I have why leaven is used in the Bible as a symbol of
sin. Leaven probably
symbolizes sin because it begins a process of fermentation, which leads to
ultimate corruption.
No doubt the use of leaven as a symbol of sin was far easier to
understand in Biblical days then it is today. In those days women used a little
old, sour dough that was in a high state of fermentation for
leavening. The bread it
produced had a sour taste and smell.
After the Passover feast, the Israelites were commended not to eat
unleavened bread for seven days.
Why? Well, let’s
consider some things about leaven that may explain why the Passover and
unleavened bread go together – and why accepting Jesus Christ as Savior
and living a life for Him also concur.
Sin works in our lives like leaven in bread. The Word says “Do you not know
that a little leaven leavens the whole lump”? (1 Cor.
5:6).
After the children of
When we allow sin to remain in our lives, the sin begins a process
of fermentation. The Apostle
Paul pleaded with the Corinthians to “purge out the old leaven” and to
live for Christ. Today, we
can live for Christ – if we purge the sin within and let the Holy Spirit
present us as a living sacrifice in Christ. God’s promise is still open “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all righteousness” (John 1:9).
The
Bible contains about 800,000 words, depending on the translation. This is
about four times as many words as are found in a book of average length.
After
being interviewed by the school administration, the eager teaching
prospect said: "Let
me see if I've got this right. You want me to go into that room with all
those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning,
and I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify
their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor
their T-shirt messages and dress habits. You
want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check
their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction, and raise their self
esteem. You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship,
sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a
checkbook, and how to apply for a job. I
am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize
signs of anti-social behavior, and make sure all students pass the state
exams, even those who don't come to school regularly or complete any of
their assignments. Plus,
I am to make sure that all of the students with handicaps get an equal
education regardless of the extent of their mental or physical handicap. I
am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone,
newsletter and report card. All
of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a
bulletin board, a big smile AND on a starting salary that qualifies my
family for food stamps! You want me to do all of this and then you tell
me... I CAN'T PRAY?"
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© Summit of Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church 2002
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