Removing Inner Leaven
by Brandy Webb
Spring has arrived, and luckily, in East Texas we finally have sunlight and some warmer weather. So, it really feels like spring. I sympathize with all my readers who are still freezing up north. My husband is about to take his third business trip to Boston, so he can really sympathize with anyone in the upper northeast US.
Anyway, spring, whether it feels like it or not, is here, and with it starts God’s Holy Day seasons. I love how we have the beginning of God’s Holy Days in one of my favorite seasons and the end of His Holy Days at my other favorite season. It just makes these times even more special.
I know that the majority of my readers know that in just a few days we will be celebrating Passover and Unleavened Bread, but to those who do not know about these days, they commemorate both the exodus of Israel and the sacrifice of our Messiah. For those who do not know, the Sabbath that was following Jesus’ death was not the weekly Sabbath, it was a High Day Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread.
I have been thinking of the similarities of our walk towards God’s Kingdom, and Israel’s walk to the Promised Land. They wandered, literally, in a wilderness. We wander, metaphorically, in a wilderness. They had to physically travel through a place called Sin (Ex 16:1), and we live in a world that is full of sin. Okay, maybe I’m stretching, but the main thing is, we are “foreigners” (1 Pet 2:11), living in a land that isn’t our own, waiting to enter into our Promised Land. Our wilderness may not be literal, we may not be walking in deserts and pastures, but we are living outside the Promise Land.
The question for us, though, is this: Are we walking in faith, always keeping the goal in front of our minds, or are we wandering around grumbling and complaining like most of the Israelites? Are we boldly going forward without fear, or are we cowering when life seems hard? Remember, the Israelites let fear stop them from entering the Promised Land the first time, thus causing them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. I don’t want to make the same mistake. I want to fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim 6:12) and be part of God’s first fruits.
Therefore, I have really been trying to get my mind in a more “Unleavened Bread” mindset this year. I don’t want to observe these coming Holy Days in a passive habitual way—like something that I just do, kind of like breathing. I don’t think about breathing, but I breathe continuously. Well, sometimes I think that I treat God’s Holy Days the same way. I forget how important these days are, what really happened on these days, why we have them, and why it is such a gift to partake in them. I desire to fully give God my full attention this year.
To remember that it isn’t about getting every crumb out of my house, because leavening is in the air we breathe, but it is about the fact of trying to get real sin out of my life. It is a reminder of how powerful God and our Messiah are. How much They love us. How much They are willing to sacrifice for us. And how much They are willing to bless us. So, may we celebrate these days removing our inner leaven, being renewed “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7-8).