Greetings Brethren!

We are told in 1 Corinthians 8 "Knowledge Puffs up, but Love edifies." Yet at the same time we have a desperate need for God's truth to guide our lives. So where is the balance struck? If we are not careful, our growth as children of God can stall with gaining knowledge that God reveals to us, and not use the precious truth we receive by developing Godly character.

Jesus addressed this in John 4:24. He said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." Christ made the point that truth is vitally important and required in proper worship of God, but it must go deeper than just knowledge. Paul also touched on this in 1 Corinthians 5:8 "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."

The context of 1 Corinthians 5 brings so much more to the narrative and our understanding, especially as we are ending the Days of Unleavened Bread. In this section, Paul is correcting the behavior of the congregation in Corinth. Specifically, there is an issue of sexual immorality within the congregation that is not only well known, but accepted. In fact, in verse 6 we are told that they were "glorying" in their acceptance of sin. Paul reminds them of the danger of sin with the analogy of leaven. Just like leaven that spreads until the whole of the dough is leavened, so will sin spread in a congregation. He then exhorts the Corinthians to purge out the sin, not only from their individual lives, but also from the congregation. This may seem harsh, but if we properly understand the truth about sin, we grasp the tremendous danger it is and our sincerity to worship God will drive us to purge that sin for the good of the congregation. All of this is given in the context of the Days of Unleavened Bread, which we will be completing tomorrow evening.

One of the prominent lessons we should draw from these days is our need to go forward walking in newness of life. These new lives we are to be living, should be marked with sincerity and truth. Both are required for proper worship and proper character development. Either one on their own leads only to puffing ourselves up (1 Corinthians 5:2, 8:3). There are many in the world that are perfectly sincere in their efforts to worship God. Yet without God's revealed truth, miss the mark. The same can be true for those who have knowledge of God's way of life.  We must have knowledge of God's way, but our motivation, our spirit, and core of our being must properly be aligned with God's character.  If this is not the case, we fall short of what we should be doing. As we leave these days, let's be cognizant of our need to continue daily worshiping God with sincerity and truth.

I pray everyone's Feast of Unleavened Bread has gone well and look forward to seeing you at Holy Day Services tomorrow.

In Christian love.

Devin Schulz