Thursday, October 10, 2013

Size doesn't matter

Over and over we have heard
about the tiny mustard seed
"It only takes a little bit of faith
to move mountains," they tell us.
Bull... um, -oney.

I have had a lot of faith
that a lot of things would happen
only to see the mountains
stay in the same place, unmoved.
I have been sure that my prayer
would be answered
only to hear and see nothing.

The more I thought about it,
I began to realize
the size of your faith
really doesn't matter.
In fact, I do not believe
that God would call us to have
any kind of faith
that could be thought of as small.

Consider the mustard seed.
It grows from the tiniest of seeds
to the largest plant
in the garden.
It is a bush so big
that birds perch in it
when it is grown.
How does this happen?
Does the mustard seed
have a little bit of faith
that it will grow
to reach its full potential?
No!

The mustard seed
small as it may be
believes with its whole being
that it will become the full-grown plant
that God designed it to be.
It thinks of nothing else.
It knows of nothing else.
It concentrates on nothing but God's will for it to become exactly what He wants it to be.
Even in floods.
Even in drought.
Even when the animals come tearing through the garden.
No excuses. Just faith.

I'm not a "KJV all the way" kinda girl... but it is what I learned to read first... and while many preachers talked about the "tiny faith of the mustard seed," reading it myself made me see that not all versions refer to the seed as "small" at all.

Why are men building entire sermons on a word that they are inferring into the verse... a word that isn't even there?

Every time I get into this passage, I feel this message more deeply than before. Tonight, when I was reading it again, verse 17 struck me.

The apostles brought a boy to Jesus after unsuccesfully trying to cast demons out of him. They basically said, "We can't figure it out. You do it, Jesus." In verse 17 of this chapter Jesus says, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?" He is saying... (my interpretation) "You have got to figure this out for yourselves! I am not going to be here much longer! I called you for something amazing... and you have not fully grasped it yet! ... If you could see what you are truly meant to be and work for nothing else... that kind of faith could move mountains! Nothing would be impossible."

What a promise...

If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matthew 17:20

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