A Spiritual Aspect to the Deleavening Process

I receive many questions this time of year about the deleavening process.  How do I do it?  Why do we do it?  Where does the leavening go; where do we put it?  Why does God have us do this?  Is there only one way to do it?  Let us discuss the answers to these questions.

It all begins with some scripture from the Word of God...

Ex 12:19-20
19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

Ex 13:7
7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.

This putting out of the leaven is a physical action [a living metaphor or model] that denotes a spiritual process.  That process is the putting of sin out of our lives.  Notice scriptures from the New Testament showing this to be truth.

1 Cor 5:7-8
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Gal 5:9
9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Therefore, the practice or ritual of putting out leaven teaches us about the spiritual concept of putting sin out of our lives.  Eating the unleavened bread is a physical picture showing the spiritual concept of putting Christ into us.  Sin out and Christ in.

The Deleavening Process is Unique to the Individual Believer!

The church and ministry can and will give you sermons and sermonettes on the concepts [physical and spiritual] and guidelines on how to go about the process of getting the leaven out.  You will hear that there should be no leaven or leavened products found on your property, in your homes, your cars, your out buildings, or your desk or locker at work.  Throwing these things into the trash is not enough, the trash containing the leaven you have collected needs to be off your property.

Having said that, however, the actual measures and procedures you take are a deeply spiritual matter.  This is you putting sin out of your life.  The church and ministry can give you guidelines and even offer suggestions as to getting a year's worth of bread and cracker crumbs out of your sofa, but the final procedures and to what degree you go about in this process are yours.  The only judge is Christ.

My encouragement to you is to always think of and meditate on the spiritual aspects of putting sin out of your life as you go about the physical process of looking for the leaven in your home and car and the other places mentioned above.  Doing this will give you the energy, urgency and the creativity in how you go about implementing the unique procedures you "invent" as you go through the process.  I am not looking for bread crumbs; I am looking for sin.  It is the same as when Jesus talks about the unleavened bread and says think of me when you eat it, for this is my body (Luke 22:19).
 

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