Jesus Through Us: Following His Example in Love and ServiceSample

A Greater Purpose

Our lives often feel small and inconsequential, yet be assured that a life of faith is anything but that—even if it can be difficult to see or measure.

Jesus often used the properties of yeast as an illustration in His teachings. When He was speaking of the Pharisees, He frequently referred to yeast to symbolize sin and contamination. In Luke 13, however, He compared the kingdom of God to yeast.

Yeast makes dough into something entirely new and better—something with a greater purpose, a renewed purpose. We are surrounded all the time by a broken world and lost people, but if we’re walking with Jesus, if He’s working through us, we can touch so many lives. God can use our small faith to start permeating the lives of others. And our lives, so small in the grand scheme of things, are given a greater and renewed purpose, able to be much more than they could ever have been with only our own efforts.

Can you think of other ways the yeast in the dough represents God’s kingdom or God’s work in our lives?

How has God been giving your life a greater purpose? How has this influenced your community or the world?

God, work through me so that I can influence this world for the better in Your name. Help me to discover my greater purpose and give me the courage to live it. Thank You for giving each of us our own gifts that help us to bring Your light to a dark world. In Jesus’s name, amen.