It’s not about the bread I eat, but what’s in my head I think.

Thinking he was scolding them for forgetting bread, they discussed in whispers what to do. Jesus knew what they were doing and said, “Why all these worried whispers about forgetting the bread? Runt believers! Haven’t you caught on yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves of bread and the five thousand people, and how many baskets of fragments you picked up? Or the seven loaves that fed four thousand, and how many baskets of leftovers you collected? Haven’t you realized yet that bread isn’t the problem? The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.” Then they got it: that he wasn’t concerned about eating, but teaching—the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of teaching. Matthew 16:7-12

Jesus cares what I think. Jesus came into my heart so he could get change my mind. The reason he spent three years with the disciples was to disciple them, to discipline their way of thinking in the ways of the Kingdom. The masses may have been looking for handouts, healing, and help, but Jesus focused on changing his followers’ way of thinking so they would change their way of acting.

Earthly kingdoms are always about the distribution of the bread. Like most people, I often can’t see beyond the next meal or the next bill to pay. But Jesus makes it clear it’s not about who has or gets what, but what gets taught and gets caught.

Like the disciples I often get distracted with worries about the bread, about making bread. I spend more time thinking about producing income and outcomes than realizing who has provided so graciously in the past. How the disciples missed the obvious after food turned up for over 9000 unwanted dinner guests is amazing, but what is just as amazing is I often get caught up with who and where I’m meeting for lunch and forget to feed my soul the food it needs to get through the day. Jesus is saying how I prepare my mind is more important than how I prepare my food.

Jesus seemed to have a thing about yeast. The reason is because it doesn’t take much of it to make a big difference in the way things turn out. I often think that little seed of disobedience–that naughty thought, unkind attitude, or harsh judgment–in my mind is of no real consequence. But that’s the problem. It’s like yeast. One thought not brought captive to Christ grows and grows and who knows where it goes from there. That’s why each of us have such huge spiritual blind spots, obvious to everyone around us, but oblivious to us.

How do I get rid of my blind spot so I can see the obvious? Quit being a runt believer and get serious about preparing my mind to think right. I will not get different results if I keep feeding myself the same inputs. My actions will continue to flow from the yeast I mix into my life everyday.

Runt believers think faith is about feeling. True believers know faith is about thinking and acting on the basis of grace. Right feelings follow right actions. If I wait until I feel right to think right, my spiritual life is based on nothing but circumstances. God did not send his son to make me feel better. The life of his son lives in me so that my life and others may be transformed in the renewing of our minds to know and do his will (Romans 12:1-2). That should be obvious in my life.