By Joel Hilliker and Michael Dattolo

You’ve probably spent time helping your parents deleaven some of the house in the past.

As you’ve no doubt heard, leaven is a type of sin (click here to read more). However, what specifically does deleavening teach us about removing sin? Let’s look at some lessons from deleavening that relate specifically to youth.

1. What was God’s command regarding deleavening in establishing the Days of Unleavened Bread? Exodus 13:7.

As you probably know from experience, getting leaven completely out of the house—or even just out of your room or car—is a real job.

But consider the marvelously practical advice for combatting sin that we can meditate on throughout that process: Keep sin out of your home.

Notice that Exodus 13:7 talks about removing sin from your “quarters.” The world, with all of its troubles and problems, lies outside the door. We can’t necessarily control the way people act at school. But for the most part, we have control over what we allow into our own quarters. How well are we doing at keeping sin out?

This can be especially meaningful for youth. As teenagers, the common attitude in the world is one of rebellion toward authority, disrespect toward and disunity with one’s parents. Is that how it is in your family? How do you treat your parents? What about your siblings? When attitudes of anger, bitterness, competition and strife enter your mind, put them out quickly!

This command also has special meaning today because we have numerous means of bringing the sins of the world into our homes—through television, the Internet and so on. Would God approve of the television shows you watch? Are the games you play spiritually unleavened? Do you feel guilty after visiting certain websites?

Do your part to keep spiritual leaven outside of your family’s home! And as you deleaven, don’t just think of it as another chore. Consider the spiritual meaning behind removing physical leaven.

2. What happened to those in ancient Israel who were found with leaven in their homes during the Days of Unleavened Bread? Exodus 12:19. In the same way, doesn’t sin cut us off from God? Isaiah 59:2; Psalm 66:18.

The way we treat leavening during the Days of Unleavened Bread is exactly the way God demands we treat sin all the time. If we don’t get sin out as soon as we find it, that sin will keep us separated from God (this causes lots of other problems, as the sidebar points out).

3. Does unleavened bread also symbolize the urgency we must have in removing spiritual leaven—sin—from our lives? Exodus 12:39.

Just as taking time to prepare leavened bread would have slowed the Israelites down in their departure from Egypt, so will sin slow us down in developing God’s character. We are told in Hebrews 12:1 to cast off sin so we can run our spiritual race faster.

When we find sin, God wants us to remove it immediately!

4. Will God quickly forgive and cleanse us only when we repent of sin? 1 John 1:9.

When we have been made unclean by sin, we need that cleansing immediately. Don’t wait to repent. Don’t let that sin fester. Get it out of your life right away.

5. Do we know what all of our sins are, or do we have to ask God to reveal them and cleanse us of them? Psalm 19:9, 12.

Like David, we should ask God to cleanse us of our “secret faults.” This lesson is reinforced by the Days of Unleavened Bread. We might find leaven crammed in a corner of our room, or an old sandwich left in our backpack during these days. Sin also lurks in our lives in places we’re not looking. We can’t see all of the areas where we are violating God’s law—certainly not as God does.

Leaven is used in many products you wouldn’t necessarily think would contain it. Perhaps in the past, during the Days of Unleavened Bread, you have scrutinized the ingredients of something you bought at the store or at a restaurant.

This is a habit we can apply spiritually. Check the “ingredients” of the music you listen to—the movies you watch—the websites you visit. Even something that looks harmless might promote upside-down families, disrespectful teenagers and violence.

It can be difficult to completely avoid eating leaven for seven days. Many of us have stories about eating leavening out of habit, not remembering until too late that it was the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Likewise, if you’re not careful, you will unwittingly ingest a lot of sinful ideas—from your peers at school or work, from conversations, from worldly entertainment. To keep sin out of your life, you must remain vigilant!

Another thought to meditate on: It takes a long time to deleaven today. For the ancient Israelites living in tents, the deleavening process might have taken only a day or two. In our larger, well-furnished homes today, it can be a major, multi-week project.

Have you ever considered the spiritual parallel? The more property we have, the harder we have to work to keep sin out. Those of us who enjoy prosperity do have to work harder to keep the sins of materialism and coveting out of our lives.

6. Does God also command us to eat unleavened bread during this festival? Exodus 13:7; Leviticus 23:6.

Removing leaven is not all God commands. That would symbolize only the putting away of sin. We are also commanded to eat unleavened bread during this festival. That symbolizes righteousness—active obedience to God!

We have only scratched the surface of the complete and wonderful package of life-changing lessons God has bound up in this festival. Be sure to study more into this topic.