In preparation for the spring holy days, God commands us to remove leavening from our surroundings. There are deep spiritual lessons in why God has us search every nook and cranny and completely remove any leavened food we find.

“Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:15, see also verse 19).

It is critical that we put forth a great effort to find and remove any leavened foods—even the smallest crumbs—from our homes, cars, and if possible, our areas of work. Physically this is quite a task, but it only typifies what we should be doing in our spiritual lives.

As we search out the hidden leavening in our surroundings, we should make a corresponding effort to search out sins in our lives. But searching out sin has little value unless we take the next step.

When we find crumbs, no matter where, we must remove them. Sometimes this can be quite difficult. Our hands may not fit, or our fingers may not reach the location of the crumbs; the narrow end on the vacuum cleaner may be too large or too short. But if we continue to work at removing the leavening, we will succeed. (Of course, we must use wisdom and balance while removing physical leaven. For example, God would not intend for us to tear out a kitchen floor to remove crumbs.)

The same principle applies in our spiritual lives. We must look into every aspect of our lives to locate sin. No matter how hard you may think it would be to find sin in your life, it is there. Consider the words of Herbert W. Armstrong in his “Open Letter From the Editor” in 1967: “You think you are pretty good? Do you? Well let me tell you on God’s authority that you are not good, but evil. To use expressive language—and I hope I can drive it through and through into your consciousness—you are, spiritually, so rotten you stink—you are so foul you deserve nothing but eternal death—you are so evil, by comparison to GOD, you are not fit to be called His son! Yet, if you really repent of what you are as well as the way you have lived, and really turn around and go the other way, with God’s power, God has provided a way of grace by which you may be redeemed, washed in Christ’s blood, and actually be made righteous by the Holy Spirit of God!”

Matthew 19:17 says: “[T]here is none good but one, that is, God ….” None means none: no one, not me, not you. This verse alone proves that we have ample sin in each of our lives and should keep extremely busy trying to get the leavening out. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might …” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Once we locate a sin, we must immediately present it to God with complete honesty and openness. We cannot hide the sin or the cause of the sin from Him. We must describe our problem to our Father in the most accurate terms possible and ask God for His solution.

We may try to rationalize our sins to try to put them in the best possible light. Just state the facts and ask for guidance, correction, and repentance. God will answer. He wants us to be repentant so we can receive His great gifts.

Turning to God and admitting our sins is only a first step. Being sorry for sinning is important, but it is not the end of our obligation. To stop there would accomplish nothing.

Just as we must remove leavening from our surroundings, we must stop sinning. This is true repentance, and it leads to a change in our attitudes and behaviors. We must actually think and act differently than we did before we discovered our sins. Only then can we be completely reconciled to God.

The Days of Unleavened Bread remind us of the great miracles God performed when Israel was brought out of Egypt (Exodus 12:51). He continues to perform miracles for us today. One of these miracles is to grant to us repentance from sin.

This year, as you prepare for the Days of Unleavened Bread, as you go about locating leavening in your home, car and workplace, use the physical process as a mirror of your spiritual housekeeping. Put forth every effort to identify sin and remove it from your life. God is just waiting to pour out His blessings on each of us as we fulfill this commanded task of deleavening our lives.

Each of us will have the greatest holy day season of our lives if we put more into this process than ever before.

From the Archives: Royal Vision, March-April 2010