Seventh-Day Adventist Devotional For Children: “Purge Out Your Old Self”

DAILY BREAD – A DEVOTIONAL FOR CHILDREN.

EASTERN NIGERIA UNION CONFERENCE CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES.

Saturday, May 13, 2023

TOPIC: PURGE OUT YOUR OLD SELF

Take out all the old yeast so that you will be a new batch of dough. And you really are new dough without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, was killed to cleanse us. 1 Corinthians 5:7.

We are sinners who were born in sin, and as sinners we have an old sin nature. Sin in the Bible is often referred to as leaven. Leaven is the yeast that is put into flour which makes the whole loaf puff up, for the leaven that is put into bread dough spreads throughout the dough, and so that loaf of bread is leavened. And the old Adamic nature that every member of humanity is born with, is like leaven. Sin has spread to every part of our being. It is in our body which is dying. Yeast or leaven is used as a word picture of the effect of sin (evil deeds) in a Christian’s life. When someone starts to do wrong things, it is difficult to stop. A Christian should deal with any sin that he may carry out, at once (1 John 1:9). Otherwise, that first act will lead to a series of evil actions. Such evil behaviour will certainly spoil that person’s relationship with God. God hates all sin and He tells us that the thoughts of our heart are continuously evil, but as a new creation in Christ we are made new persons- a new ‘loaf’.
As believers, we are perfect in Christ, but we still reside in our fleshly bodies and we still retain our old sin nature, which will fight against our new, perfect-life in Christ . And so we are exhorted to purge out the old leaven – to get rid of the sin that is lurking within our hearts and live a life that is unleavened. This is not possible by our own strength, but Christ our Passover Lamb was slain for us so that we are released from the slavery of sin and the power of sin in our lives.
Christ died as the sin offering to pay the price for our sins, that we might be set free from the punishment of sin and He died as our passover lamb so that we may be released from the power of sin in our lives. The death of Christ makes us new; yet we must get rid of the old in order to be new, precisely because in Christ we already are new! Thus no “do in order to be,” but “do because you are”. This is done only as we submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our life until it is “not I but Christ that lives in me.”
Let us cleanse out the old leaven that we may be a new lump. Behold the Lamb of God, our Sin Offering, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed in our place.

THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
Christ has set us free from the punishment of sin. Are we still in the chain of sin? Have we not submitted our lives to God? Is the Holy Spirit allowed to lead us?

SONGS
Not I, but Christ, be honored, loved exalted
Not I, but Christ, be seen, be known, be heard,
Not I, but Christ, in every look and action,
Not I, but Christ, in every thought and word.

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Christ as lamb who died for my sin so that I might be released from the punishment of sin. Please keep us pure and free from sin. When we fail to understand what sin really is, lead us by Your Holy Spirit to understand and receive our repentance. In understanding the true nature of sin, we do not want to be found wanting. Lead us into all truth, Lord Jesus, and guide us into our eternal home in Jesus name, Amen.