No Fluff

"Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" (1 Corinthians 5:6 NIV)
 
Have you ever gotten involved in something only to realize a lot of it was hype? Marketing, promotion, and a lot of people believing in something (even thought it may not be true) can make something into something it's not, resulting in unrealistic expectations and false truth. It's the stuff celebrity obsession and cults are made of.
Jesus understood this leaven, and told people to watch out for it, especially when it came to the Pharisees: Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." (Matthew 16:6 NKJV) 

Jesus was always speaking in parables, and sometimes this got the disciples confused. They thought Ge was really talking about bread! But then they finally understood He was talking about the "fluff" of the Pharisees. 

If you think about leaven, it's purpose is to puff up bread, making it up to ten times it's normal size. When Jesus was speaking of the Pharisees, he was speaking of the fact that they taught in such a way to make themselves look bigger, to make themselves look better and more important than they really were. They highlighted their own importance, which disgusted Jesus, and had the people take their eyes off of God and onto them. 

But Jesus was no fluff. He was the real thing. The unleavened bread the Israelites ate during Passover was a prophetic sign of the coming of Jesus, the true unleavened bread. 

Have you ever ran into "fluff" in your life? Pray that God would help you to recognize it, and stay away from it. God desires we stay humble, and close to the truth, which is Jesus.