Enroll in our life-changing course
Do you want to learn how to become a more zealous, faithful, and effective Christian? If yes, let our best online course, Becoming Christians Academy be your guide. In this course, you will receive powerful insights and practical lessons that you can apply in your daily life. Sign up today!
October 15, 2022
Today’s reading: 1 Corinthians 5:6-7
A little leaven
We read in 1 Corinthians 5:6-7:
6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
The Corinthian church had a problem. They tolerated an immoral man to stay within the flock. They didn’t see any need to discipline the man. Perhaps, they were thinking that the “loving” way to handle the situation is to keep the man close in the hope that he will change. In this regard, the Corinthian church was even proud of their chosen intervention.
Yet, the Apostle Paul saw it in an entirely different manner. Paul instructed the church to put out the man and let him think about his sin. Paul’s main concern wasn’t just for the man, but for the whole congregation.
Paul believed that even if there’s only one man sinning in the congregation and is tolerated, it will affect the whole church.
Thus, he wrote, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”
This is an analogy that his audience knew very well. If you let even a little leaven from the old batch of baked bread get mixed up with your next batch, your new lump would be “puffed up.”
That’s how sin works. Most people are not destroyed by big sins but by little sins they have tolerated for too long that it grew and grew until it brought great destruction.
One important lesson we should learn is that we don’t underestimate the negative effects of small sins. Their dire consequences might not be felt immediately. However, if left unchecked, it will surely destroy you in ways you have never imagined.
Paul’s instruction is for us to purge out the old leaven. We don’t tolerate sin, whether it is small or big. We don’t let the old leaven stay, but we do our best in removing it from our lives.
When we have accepted Yahshua’s sacrifice, got baptized, and received the Holy Spirit, we have become a new lump. We strive not to go back to our old ways.
We should start looking at our lives and identifying the old leaven. Let’s do our best to live a life free of sin and a life that pleases the Almighty.
Support
If the content of this website blesses you, please consider supporting God’s noble work by sending your donation. This will help in keeping this website running and reaching more people with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
