Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: Luke 13 and Psalm 29

²⁰ Again he asked, ‘What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? ²¹ It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about thirty kilograms of flour until it worked all through the dough.’

When yeast is added to water and flour to create dough, it consumes the sugars in the flour and excretes carbon dioxide gas and ethanol — this process is called fermentation. Because the gas can’t escape from the dough, the bread expands and rises.

In comparing the Kingdom of God to the presence of yeast in a batch of dough, Jesus left us at least two great words of encouragement.

First, we should never become discouraged when our growth in the Kingdom (or that of others) seems slow. Fermentation is a slow process, after all. No matter how slow it may seem to us, the Holy Spirit continues His transformative Kingdom work in our lives steadily and incrementally until the job is done.

Secondly, we should never become discouraged when hard times come our way. The heat of one’s oven speeds up the fermentation process when it comes to the yeast in one’s batch of dough; and, likewise, the fire of difficulties usually increases the speed of one’s growth in Christ. The presence of difficulties does not mean that we are being punished or that Christ has abandoned us. (See also Jesus’ teaching on this point in v.1-5). Instead the Holy Spirit takes our difficulties and – if we will turn to Him in the midst of them – uses them to grow us in Christlikeness. They become the oven to the yeast of the Spirit’s work in our lives.

Life application: If tough times come today, do not lose heart. Instead turn them over to the Lord and ask Him to use them to increase the speed of your own growth into Christlikeness. Ask Him how He is going to change you through those circumstances, and co-operate with Him in that work.