Contaminating Yeast

 Jesus gave many warnings to His disciples and thus to us. Any time Jesus cautions us about anything, it should be a priority for us to stay away from it. When Jesus was speaking to His disciples, He told them to be very careful and to keep a sharp eye out for the contaminating yeast of the Pharisees and the followers of Herod. (Mark 8:15) It is important for us to consider what the Pharisees and the followers of Herod were doing that was destructive to those who would follow Jesus. The same is true for us, as believers, today.

The Pharisees were the leaders of the synagogues. They were supposed to be experts in the Old Testament Law. However, they were more concerned about power and influence than really following the spirit of the Law. In fact, they were very legalistic. They thought that by keeping certain religious rules, they were pleasing God, even if their hearts were far from Him. Therefore, today, we must not desire power. That will contaminate our faith. We must be humble and seek to be servants, instead of prominent leaders. Also, we must always stay away from simply thinking that keeping rules satisfies the Lord. It makes Him very angry, because He looks at the heart, not what we do outwardly as a ritual. The followers of Herod wanted power, too. Their way to get it was to compromise the Scriptural teachings. Compromise will always bring us down. There is no room for us to decide not follow everything the Word of God says and to do it completely. I think we can all see how this contaminating yeast has the possibility to fill our lives and destroy our faith if we are not vigilant to keep it away. I pray we will all do just what Jesus told His disciples to do.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Mark 9-11.