Yeast by Robin Densmore Fuson

 

I love big, fluffy rolls. Especially cinnamon rolls. Bakeries smell amazing with all the yeast rising and spices mingling. Grab a cup of coffee and a large, soft, warm roll or biscuit. Yummy! Fresh bread, cookies, cakes, and pies are also delicious.

Unfortunately, I’m sensitive to many of the delicacies I described. The ingredients that make them unbelievably tasty, light, and delicate create a war in my body.

Sometimes I can’t resist the urge to take a bite or two. A year ago, we were in a well-known steakhouse in Texas, where they brought rolls to our table. Oh, my, the aroma drew me like a child to a bin of furry puppies outside a pet shop. I wanted one.

I took two small bites and savored the sensation. That’s all I allowed myself to succumb to temptation. We finished the delightful meal of steak and sides and headed to the hotel.

In the middle of the night, I woke with a band of extreme pain circling my head. Not my normal migraine. This was different. Then I remembered my two bites.

I’ve broken my resolve before with wheat and didn’t get that reaction. My mind ran down ingredients and the ones I’m sensitive to and landed on baker’s yeast. That wonderful fermented reactive ingredient that, with time, changes flat dough into large and fluffy mouthwatering delights.

Yeast is also called leaven in the Bible. The first mention is in Exodus when God told the people to prepare for departure from slavery in Egypt and bake unleavened bread. His warning was about time. Don’t take time for it to rise. You will leave in a hurry. Exodus 12:39.

God also instructed the people to remember that amazing event by a celebrating for a week after Passover called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where they clear their homes from all yeast or leaven and eat tasty flat bread for the seven days instead. Exodus 12:15.

Also, all offerings presented to the Lord, to be burned upon the altar, could not contain yeast. Leviticus 2:11 In this instance, leaven represents sin.

In Matthew 16:6-12, Jesus said the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Sadducees was like leaven. They taught scripture but didn’t live it. Also, they had added other rules to the Law. Unfortunately, they were all about appearances and not the heart. He told them to beware of their false teaching, which was like leaven, which was hypocrisy.

The apostle Paul also used yeast as a metaphor. “Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? (1 Corinthians 5:6 esv).”     

Yeast impacts the whole batch of dough. You can’t separate it any easier than dividing oats from water in a bowl of oatmeal. Or cream from the dark brew of coffee.

A tiny bit of yeast, leaven, or sin permeates the whole.

When we let any corruption or sin into our lives, our whole being is affected. Our attitude. Our thinking. Our outlook. Relationships. Ethics. Minds and eventually our bodies. Worry and stress wreak havoc in our health.  

Relationships suffer, especially the one with the Lord. Our walk with Jesus becomes stifled, stilted, weak, and eventually lost.

My incident with yeast created pain that lasted for over twenty-four hours. Two small bites, only a little, had a huge impact and bothered my body and disrupted my vacation. I hope I never forget the time when pain caused me to lose a day to pain. And how God showed me how it correlates with sin. A little leaven changes a whole loaf.  

Yeast is perfect for its job. I’m glad God created it and taught us how to use it. But the picture of yeast or leaven should make us all pause and take stock of our minds and lives. Are we clear of the fermented beast of sin? Or do we need to do some soul clearing, repentance and asking for forgiveness? (repentance means turn around and is not just for salvation)