JESUS SPEAKING
“To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” (Luke 13: 20-21.)
INSPIRED THOUGHTS
What is leaven? Leaven is a collection of microscopic organisms, sometimes known as yeast. The yeast produces small bubbles of carbon dioxide, which are kneaded throughout bread dough. When the bread is cooked the micro-organisms are killed, and the gas bubbles expand and give the bread it’s size and soft feel (unleavened bread is very flat and hard.) Cooking bread without a leavening agent was common in the first century, especially among the Jews who were forbidden to eat leavened bread during the Passover week. Jesus compared leaven to the Kingdom of God. What do they have in common? The kingdom of God is something that is hidden away inside of a person’s heart, just as leaven is hidden away (and cannot be seen) in an unheated loaf of bread. A tiny bit of leaven will eventually spread through the loaf until it is completely saturated. Similarly, the kingdom of God often has a small beginning in the heart of the believer, but just a little bit of God’s kingdom is enough to eventually saturate the entire heart and life of the person who receives it. (Also, here, I believe Jesus is referring to the spread of the gospel outward from Jerusalem through the world; and indeed, the message has spread across the entire globe.)
Today scores of people own I-phones; many have also purchased some version of an Apple Computer. This brand seems to be a part of the lives of millions, if not billions of individuals on the planet. It would be easy to think that this company had its beginning in a huge office building, backed by some of the most powerful investors on the planet. It would be easy to envision a national advertising campaign and literary buzz announcing the start of Apple Computers. This would be easy to imagine, but it would also be incorrect. Apple Computers was started by two teenagers in a garage (Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.) Steve’s dad had to clear out the garage so the boys had enough room to begin manufacturing their first personal computers. Something that two children began in a garage today spans the globe and affects the lives of billions of people.
Similarly, our understanding of faith is often skewed. We believe that strong faith in the Lord is something that a person just has, and there is no way to get it. This is an unfortunate belief; faith is not necessarily something that explodes immediately in a person’s life (it can, but not always.) Faith in Christ can have meager beginnings from which it may grow to affect every area of the believer’s life. This can be a scary prospect for a lot of people, and this is why many often harden their hearts and refuse to allow God’s kingdom to even have a beginning in them. Those who do allow the kingdom of God into their hearts are transformed from the inside out. Allow God to change you; allow Him to affect every area of your life, and you will know peace; you will know the truth; and you will know God.
“Lord, we lift You up; You are an awesome and mighty Father. We come before You today and we ask and pray that You would continue to grow within us; fill up our hearts and lives completely Lord. We ask You to keep expanding, and to enter into the areas of our lives that we might be holding back from You. Lord give us more of Your Holy Spirit and Your truth; and increase our faith. Take full control of our hearts and minds. We love You Lord, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things, according to Your will, in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.” God bless all of you.
Jesus Speaks 