DAY 66 - MUSTARD SEED FAITH
KEATON TUCKER, YA GROUPS TEAM LEAD
“He said therefore, ‘what is the Kingdom of God like? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’” Luke 13:18-19
“The apostles of the Lord said ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord said ‘If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it would obey you.” Luke 17:5-6
“One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, ‘When will the Kingdom of God come?’ Jesus replied, ‘The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs.’” Luke 17:20
Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It’s SO small, it is hardly visible unless you are holding it in your hand.
In the first parable above, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed that grows into a tree. It starts small and then it expands, first with roots going deep and then the trunk going upward and the branches outward. Jesus makes this statement about the kingdom of God right after he healed a single woman who “had been bound by Satan for many years”. Compared to the other miracles of Jesus like feeding the 5,000 this one is seemingly small. It’s one woman, in one church, on one day. But it is a seed planted in the Kingdom of God that will expand in ways we cannot explain and in such a way we probably wouldn’t even notice.
In the second parable, Jesus tells his disciples all they need is a mustard seed of faith and great things can happen, even the seemingly impossible. His example is a tree being uprooted and displaced by a single word, something we know is impossible. It’s important to note here, Jesus is not being literal about the tree. It is his example following a teaching about forgiving others as many times as needed. It is this teaching on forgiveness that the disciples exclaim “increase our faith!”
Because how could anyone possibly forgive someone hundreds of times? Those who have been deeply wounded by others know how hard it is to continually forgive someone. It feels just as impossible as uprooting a tree or moving a mountain.
It is exactly this kind of faith Jesus is looking for, faith that is seemingly small, almost invisible, but a faith that can grow and expand.
What if it’s really that simple for the Kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven?
What if it is as simple as speaking a word to someone that sets them free?
What if it is as simple as forgiving someone?
What if it is as simple as saying “God loves you and sees you and died for you”?
What if it is as simple as stopping what you’re doing for a moment, and paying attention to someone who is lonely?
We read these great stories of faith in the bible and in Christian history of people who left jobs behind, became missionaries, planted churches, led revivals and all of these are commendable and amazing. But all too often the rest of us look at these amazing stories and come to believe we have to replicate them in order to show to others or ourselves that we have big audacious faith. We want to have the mustard tree without having planted the mustard seed. We come to believe “if I don’t do this _____ for God, the Kingdom won’t come!” Satan is malicious that way. He wants you to think the Kingdom only comes through grandeur.
Some of us sideline ourselves believing we just don’t have enough faith and we forget the little things like a cup of cold water to those who are thirsty is just as important as the “big things” and still bring the Kingdom.
What if it’s not about the size of your faith?
What if it’s not about you at all?
What if it’s mustard seed size acts that bring the kingdom to earth as it is in heaven?
After all, it is God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3).
The great thing about mustard seeds is they are small. Many can be carried in a small bag and sown anywhere. A kind word here, forgiveness there, a little love over here. Patience with someone, gentleness to those who don’t see or understand, prayer for those who need God. Before you know it, you have planted seeds for the Kingdom of God all over that will grow and expand into large trees later.
You don’t have to be Paul, going on missionary journeys and starting churches and writing the New Testament. If God leads you that way, awesome! But consider this: the church of Jesus Christ and his gospel of the Kingdom of God spread throughout the world by people becoming like Jesus, abiding in Him, and being faithful in the little things he asks us all to do.
Each of us has been given a measure of faith as God has assigned (Romans 12). Let us use what we have faithfully. Faithful with a little, faithful with much.
All it takes is a mustard seed to bring the Kingdom of God to earth and that is what the world desires most.