A little leaven!

(Galatians 5:9)  “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”

All it takes is a little leaven to help bread rise and affect the entire loaf. Just a bantam needed to affect the complete loaf. What about the warnings to the ten virgins; all who claimed to be Christian are instructed to go and buy oil while it is still day? Is there any connection between leaven and lack of oil? Once again it is the mirror I look into and examine my own life and not that of another.

Where do I really stand in the bigger picture? Will I make it on that day or am I amongst the number of so many that think all will be well, but it ends up tragically, they do not make it into heaven, although they thought they might.

Now we are taught that a particular tree cannot produce both good and bad fruit, this verse has often trouble me if I honestly scrutinize my life. Over the past 24 years there has been a certain pattern to my life as a Christian. I would need to call it a “yo-yo experience” with the so many highs and lows to my life. Could it be probable that someone with so many mistakes to one’s life that they could still be named amongst the number? There must be at least a concern in my heart as I now am worried about where I actually fit into the picture of God’s equation. He is the potter and He will determine the outcome for all. And yet we are fully accountable for the decisions we make. It is a very difficult concept for me to grasp in its entirety and yet I know it is just. God is just and He has so ordained it, praise His name!

The instruction then is to come and buy oil; “But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.” (Matthew 25:4) - I know that if my fruit tree does not bear any fruit it is pruned and when it does produce, it is again pruned so that more fruit may appear. Yet there is a more serious consideration, what if my tree continues to be pruned for what seems to be the old man’s way or the “body of death” always sprouting another node and then having to be cut down and cast into the fire. Just maybe it is time for a serious pruning, that branch that continue to keep its life needs to be removed entirely so that it no longer has any potential to work it mischief. May God hear my cry and forgive me for the many continuous mistake of my life, I never seem to arrive, forgive me Father God, and please forgive me my great Saviour.

The instruction that the Lord Jesus left for all who call upon His name was this and Paul confirms it; “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” (1Thessolonians 5:2) – The Apostle Paul does not mince his words, this is not merely a possibility but it is a fact; the Lord Jesus will come as a thief in the night. There is much talk about those who have His Spirit, as all of them will make it home, and I am still persuaded that this will happen because God’s Word supersedes opinions or suppositions, it is the final authority!  But who is to say of a certainty who has His Spirit and who doesn’t? The Lord Jesus taught you will know a tree by its fruit. Not all that say Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom! Who then will make it? The answer is obvious, those who do the will of the Father.

Peter teachers us that judgment will begin with the household of God; “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1Peter 4:17)

I will confess I have been found wanting and it worries me deeply. Let me make it very clear, I do not doubt God’s ability, He will achieve what He has set out to do, and that is a no brainer! Yet, both vessels of honour and dishonour are needed to bring glory to our great God’s glorious name. We would never of known his holiness if we have not seen wickedness. How would we understand the benefit of light if we never knew what it meant to grope in the dark?

Will I ever ultimately change? Will I eventually begin to suffer for doing well, God knows! I pray please have mercy on my soul, not that I have done anything to deserve my request, in fact on the contrary, on my own merits I would be the first to be disqualified. But as you O great God have it in you power to show mercy on whom you choose I pray for that mercy. Forgive me for my constant pattern of giving in to my “body of death”. How I hate it so! Please prune what needs pruning in its entirety so that my life would bring glory to you. To think that heaven will be a place without sin is such a comforting thought, a place that we no longer have to strive against falling prey to its traps.

We cannot serve two masters; I do hate the traps of the devil and yet I am still ensnared by them. I choose to serve you Father God but I am weak and in need of your help. A friend and brother reminded me of this truth.

I do not know the outcome, but you do! I place my life into your hands and ask for forgiveness for the many mistakes I currently make. Help me die so that I may live!

I do not pray for myself alone but for the many others that may be in the same predicament, please Father have mercy as you have it in your power, I ask in the mighty name of Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone