God uses leaven to symbolize religious man’s tendency to make himself more important than he is. One of the ways in which he does this is through Bible interpretation, which is a sin (2 Pet. 1:20). First, man changes God’s Truth (Jn. 17:17) into what it “should be,” then, having corrected His mistakes, man  internalizes and legitimizes his own version. His version in hand, man then convinces God-seekers that they must not approach the Bible as a whole, but must focus only on certain passages that the false prophet has approved. Like trusting sheep being led to slaughter, believers follow the teachings of their leader. This is the manner in which all of the sects and cults of Catholicism and Protestantism came into being. The unwitting souls who follow such leaders are the blind who, having been led by the blind through Satan’s wide gate, spend the rest of their lives walking along his broad way (Mat. 7:13,14).

What goes into the heart/mind of religious man remains therein, takes root, grows, then eventually come out in his “walk” (Eph. 5:8)–words, actions, etc. This is perfectly portrayed in Proverbs 23:7: “For as a man thinketh in his heart (mind–the organ of thought), so is he.” The “wiley” devil knows this. Knowing that a frontal assault on religious man would not work, he uses man’s own devices to stealthily guide him onto the path he wants man to take. He does this through the mind of man by presenting to him the “things of man”–things that appeal to man’s self-interest. Jesus perfectly exposed Satan’s modus operandi in Matthew 16:23. Finding that Satan had filled Peter’s mind with the leaven of self-centeredness, Jesus address the devil: “Get thee behind me, Satan, for you are an offense to Me, for you savorest not the things of God, BUT THE THINGS OF MEN.” Satan savors (loves) the things of men–worldly things–for he knows that man’s tendency is to do whatever appeals to his senses. He places before man the things that appeal to him.

We are what we think about. We think about what we observe–see, hear, pay attention to, seek out, enjoy, involve ourselves in, etc. We observe what appeals to the senses and makes us feel good. Therefore it is of extreme importance that we are careful concerning what we see, hear, etc. In other words, leaven in–leaven absorbed–leaven out. Or, righteousness in–righteousness absorbed–righteousness out. As I wrote in a previous posting, I asked God to remove from my heart/mind all desire for things that might hinder my “walk” in Him. He did, instantly upon request. There is nothing wrong with some things found in the world; sports, music, movies, t.v. in and of themselves are not necessarily evil. Where sin is not at issue, it is our attitude toward those things that can make them evil. Upon self-reflection, I found myself spending two or more hours a day watching t.v., which brought me under conviction. God reminded me of His command to “Redeem the time”–meaning not to waste it in trivial pursuits which, though not necessarily bad, were not profitable in my spiritual walk. Filling our minds with the things of the world damages our character– our mannerisms, our personalities and the ways in which we act and react. Let us look as some of God’s instructions relative to what we put into our minds and the fruit it produces.

“… those things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart/mind proceed evil thoughts ….” (Mat. 15:17-19) (leaven in–leaven out). We are not born with such thoughts; they are acquired. We acquire them by allowing them inside our minds/hearts. Once in, they take root and produce the fruit–our “walk.” “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Mat. 12:34-35) (righteousness in–righteousness out). To be continued.