Good For Bread But Bad For Us
by Peter Brokaar
I made a crucial mistake last month: I forgot to add yeast to the bread I was baking (in the bread maker I have to admit…)! Needless to say it did not quite turn out as hoped! Instead of lovely warm crusty bread I ended up with a formless, inedible lump. I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed with my failure; the only good thing was that I was reminded of the powerful working of yeast.
Yeast, as a picture of sin in the Scriptures, truly does affect the whole dough (1 Corinthians 5:6-7). Though we do want yeast to do its work in our bread, God does not want sin to do its work in us!
Sometimes, in an effort to see outside the context of the culture we are in, I reach across the boundaries of time by reading materials written in a different era, by different men. It can be very refreshing to read works of, for example, Tozer, Finney, Murray, Wesley, Whitfield, Bunyan or Spurgeon, to name a few. One thing which I personally find striking is this: these guys talked a whole lot more about personal holiness than ‘we’ tend to do, by ‘we’ I mean 21st Century Western Christians, the culture I personally am part of.
What’s perhaps more interesting yet, the bible speaks a LOT on the issue of personal holiness. As the bible can’t be wrong- could it be that we have walked somewhat out of line?
As time has progressed, as societal understanding of truth and morality has shifted, we must ask ourselves: “to which extent have we, as followers of The Way, been affected in our ‘view of things’?” As I re-read the bible, I am finding a lot more injunctions, exhortations and commands to pursue holiness than I originally had thought were part of the Christian life.
Many Christians ask themselves this question: “What is the will of God for my life?” By this they mean, where should I live, what should I do? A good question perhaps, but only worthwhile after we have considered this: the will of God for all of us is that we should be sanctified.
Prayer: Father in heaven, thank You that You love me so much that You call me completely to Yourself, and that Your desire is for me to share more and more in Your holiness. Please help me to grasp Your desire for my holiness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Peter Brokaar is Director of Ellel Ministries Scotland and has been there together with his wife Liz since 2005. They have 3 kids, all born in Scotland! In his free time he likes reading, cooking, running and surfing. Being at Ellel Scotland has given him the privilege of getting to know God deeper and sharing that joy with many others.
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