A Little Bit Of Leaven

"A Little Bit Of Leaven"' is a mini-story that takes place in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series.

Story
One day Empath was reading something from Tapper's holy book inside his tavern when he came across something. "Tapper, this smurf is curious about the apostle Paul's reference to leaven in his letters to the Corinthians and the Galatians," he said.

"Hmmm, his phrase that 'a little leaven leavens the whole lump'," Tapper said. "Well, in most places in the Bible, leaven is used as a symbol for sin, and as you know, leaven is yeast which is used for smurfing bread, which back in the time of the Exodus the children of Israel couldn't use with their bread because they had to leave Egypt in a hurry, so they ended up smurfing bread without yeast. So it became custom and part of God's law to the children of Israel that they were to have no yeast smurfed among them during the feast of Passover."

"This smurf is curious to know how leaven would be equated to the concept of sin, Tapper," Empath said.

"Let me ask you this question, if you don't mind the intrusion," Tapper said. "The first kiss you had with Smurfette...did it make you feel like you wanted to smurf more of her?"

"Admittedly that was how this smurf felt, Tapper," Empath said.

"But what kept you from smurfing more of her than either of you were comfortable of smurfing?" Tapper asked.

"Well, it was that this smurf had only gotten to know Smurfette for a few days and that we were still new to each other, Tapper," Empath said. "But since those days have passed, the temptation of wanting to have more of Smurfette than just her kiss became more and more prevalent. This smurf fears that this smurf may not have the strength to overcome that temptation before the time that she chooses who she would want to be married to."

"The devil is trying to smurf you into the temptation of sin through the kiss, Empath," Tapper said. "He knows where you are vulnerable in your heart, and so he is using the intimacy you have already shared with Smurfette to smurf you into doing something that is unholy and unsmurfy for the both of you."

"So you're saying that the kiss is like that bit of leaven that Paul the apostle warned about to his disciples in regards to their sins?" Empath asked.

"That is exactly what I mean, Empath," Tapper said. "Sin is always smurfing at the door of our hearts trying to smurf a way to get into our lives, and is very crafty and deceitful in its methods. The symbol of leaven is important is because all it smurfs is just one little sin to lead us entirely astray. Think of it as a glass of pure water that smurfs a bit of poison in it. How much poison do you think it will need to make the water unsmurfable to drink?"

"If the poison is so powerful that it can retain its effectiveness with just a single drop in a glass of water, then it wouldn't require anymore than a single drop," Empath answered.

"Then you understand what I'm smurfing about, Empath," Tapper said. "Sin is most effective when it's most palatable to our tastes because we're not able to detect the poison that it smurfs until it's too late."

"But this smurf is curious about Jesus Christ saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, that a woman put into three measures of dough until the whole lump was leavened," Empath said.

"Just as sin has a leavening effect on a person, so also does the Kingdom of God," Tapper said. "When a person lets God smurf a little of His light into their lives, they begin to see for a bit how far from God their lives have been and start to change. Over time, when more of God's light shines in through their lives, more of God will begin to appear in the person than the person himself until God becomes the only thing that other people will smurf in their lives."

"So how much do you think that God is now in your life compared to the time when you first started to know Him?" Empath asked.

Tapper laughed. "I can't say that I'm a very good judge of myself on that, Empath. All I can say is that I'm a work in progress and God isn't finished smurfing me into the final product yet. But I do know that my life just wouldn't be complete without Him being a part of it now."

"That brings this smurf back to what this smurf going to do with the temptation of wanting to have more of Smurfette than just her kiss," Empath said.

"That is something that the Almighty will help you with, Empath, if you are willing to smurf Him a chance to do so," Tapper said. "Paul tells the Corinthians to smurf rid of the old leaven in their lives, so that they may be a new lump. 'Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.'"