Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Joel J. Miller

About
Resources
Joel's Books
Article Categories
- Spiritual Growth
- Theology
- Prayer
- Church Life
- Family Life
- Society
- Books
- Misc

Home
Evangelical
What’s growing while you’re not looking?

What’s growing while you’re not looking?

Last updated on: May 8, 2012 at 7:46 pm by Joel J. Miller

What’s growing while you’re not looking? 2012-05-08T19:46:56-05:00 Joel J. Miller

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Magnus Manske, Flickr.

Little things can affect dramatic change — good and bad — even if you’re unaware that any transformation is underway.

If you walk into my kitchen, it might appear at times like a laboratory. Meg and I brew our own kombucha, several gallons of which sit on the countertop, happily fermenting away. We also make our own yogurt, kefir, and lactofermented vegetables, carrots mostly. We’re next thinking about making our own sourdough.

It’s as easy as it is fun. All you do is ready the raw ingredients and let nature do the rest.

Each of these preparations involves living, active cultures that transform the ingredients from one thing to another. Back it up a step and kombucha is just sweet tea, yogurt is just milk, etc. But the added cultures — just a small amount — metabolize the sugars they find in the ingredients, grow, and permanently alter the product. What started out as one thing becomes another, and it happens while you’re not looking.

Jesus actually taught about this, and his words can both inspire and warn us about little things changing our lives in big ways.

Leavening the lump

We’re perhaps familiar with the Mosaic ban on leaven around Passover. These days there are several different kinds of leavening, but the Bible is talking about the living kind, like yeast or sourdough starter, that runs rampant through a lump of dough.

This is the image Jesus conjures in the parable of the leaven, in which he describes the kingdom of heaven as a woman adding a little leaven to her dough to see it spread throughout the entire lump. Because of the fermentation process, the leaven transforms the dough in which it is placed.

Commenting on this passage, Irenaeus identified Jesus himself as the leavening agent. The idea is that once Jesus gets into you, he can take over your whole being. Once the kingdom starts growing, it can’t be stopped.

But there’s another kind of leaven mentioned in the gospels as well: the leaven of the Pharisees. Jesus tells the disciples to beware this leaven, which he soon explains as the Pharisees’ teachings. The warning is clear enough. Once their ideas infect you, they can corrupt your whole person.

Corrupting thoughts

Whether it’s wine or beer, kombucha or yogurt, you have to be careful that errant bacteria do not get into your product. Without good sanitation, something may sneak in and ruin your work, throwing off funky flavors and even spoiling the whole batch.

And that’s true for the Christian life is well. Certain doctrines and dispositions can be very disruptive to our spiritual growth. Just think about how certain doctrines might engender pride or acquisitiveness. What about envy and discontent? And they can spread and spoil without our awareness. If you smell the funk, the damage is already done. That’s exactly why we have to be on guard, as Jesus directed.

It’s interesting to me that there’s a linguistic connection between fermenting cultures and our beliefs. Both are connected by the word cultus, which implies both work and worship, labor and liturgy.

Jesus’s analogy to leaven makes the connection. The kingdom spreads and grows and so does corrupting doctrine. We benefit from actively cultivating the former while guarding against the latter.

Paul indirectly picks up the same connection, and it’s from his letters to the Galatians and Corinthians that we get the phrase, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” That’s what leaven does. Let’s make sure we’ve got the right kind.

Previous Post

May 3, 2012

Daddy by grace: An adoption insight

Next Post

May 10, 2012 Appreciate where you've come from

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Church Life Family Life Misc Prayer Quotes Society Spiritual Growth Theology Uncategorized Video

Select a Month April 2014 March 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 November 2008 October 2008 July 2008 June 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 August 2007 June 2007 October 2002 July 2002 November 1999 October 1999

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

David Moses Joshua Samuel