one’s own chametz, is not sufficient; it must be destroyed. (Mordell Klein, ed., Passover, Jerusalem: Keter Books, 1973, p. 38).
Leaven is seen as symbolic of sin. Leaven corrupts by puffing up. Puffing up or pride is at the heart of all sin. We all have evil impulses within us. We’re not terrible wicked people, but we all have some tendencies which can arouse us or lead us into sin.
God tells us not to eat bread with leaven, but He also tells us we must remove it from our houses.
I looked up the word "remove" in the Thesaurus. It said:
Remove: evacuate, evict, move, oust, purge, relocate, take away
Just as no one wants to be evicted or ousted from their home, or any place they’re at, sin will not want to leave. You must lay down the law, get tough, and force it to leave.
The Bible tells us to get rid of sins while they are small.
(1 Cor 5:6-8) Stop being proud! Don’t you know how a little yeast can spread through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast! Then you will be like fresh bread made without yeast, and that is what you are. Our Passover lamb is Messiah, who has already been sacrificed. So don’t celebrate the festival by being evil and sinful, which is like serving bread made with yeast. Be pure and truthful and celebrate by using bread made without yeast.
There are times we do not remove sins, or stop doing what the Bible says is wrong (or sin), because we don’t think it’s serious, or big enough, to be harmful or wrong. But this is a BIG mistake. Sin is compared to leaven or yeast. When people bake and leave yeast out on the table it grows bigger. This is just like sin. It may start small, but it often gets bigger over time. Once this happens, it can be too late. If sin sets so big it might become too strong or powerful for us to deal with. Then, we can find ourselves in bondage to something that is big, and is harmful. We find ourselves in bondage because it’s grown so strong we can no longer over power it.
This is the reason we need to remove and oust sin when it is still small. When it is small we have the ability to stop it, and oust it. During this Passover season I encourage you to remove leaven from your homes, and ask God if there is any leaven in your life that He wants you to oust as well. |
