By: Jenny Young
Over the last several months, I have been challenged by this idea of the small unseen places in life and ministry. I believe our society unfortunately counts big things for the best things, not valuing that small things are needed, too. In the small moments, there is opportunity for growth and ways to cultivate fruitfulness. Work is happening there in the unseen. It's often in the small unseen ways that true real growth happens and sometimes that's hard to grab ahold of knowing that the big transformational things are often celebrated. As we know, Jesus worked in the small and unseen places. I continue to believe God is working in small ways - good things, sometimes hard things, yet worthwhile.
We can grow and lead from examples from the life and ministry of Jesus in small ways.
We are going to look briefly at one parable where the little things that are small in nature yet bring forth growing and significant impact. This will help us understand more of this upside-down Kingdom where things small and insignificant in our eyes are actually the things that God uses to accomplish great and growing things. The parable we are going to look at is The Mustard Seed found in Matthew 13:31-32.
“He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
A few initial observations:
One of the shortest parables of Jesus.
Jesus compares the small size of the mustard seed to the Kingdom of God
A Mustard seed is the smallest of seeds
When it is planted, it not only grows, it grows with the massive capacity for growth to become the largest of all trees.
God’s kingdom starts small. It has humble beginnings. I am sure most people didn’t give the disciples a second glance. The parable of the mustard seed teaches us that God's kingdom starts small but will grow amazingly large compared to its beginnings.
Sometimes we have no idea what God is doing right now. We are to have a mustard seed of faith and obedience. We may come to the place of feeling small, insignificant, down, confused, worried, lonely, unloved, or out of place. When we come to where Jesus is, we come to the right place – He seeks us and reminds us He is the source of all hope – He notices us – He grows us – He leads from the small places.
So here are two questions for you to consider today?
What activities are you currently involved in that feel small and seemingly insignificant? How do the truths of this teaching encourage you or challenge you to think differently about those things?
Where may God be challenging you to have a “mustard seed” like faith?
Being faithful in small things doesn’t come naturally to many of us. But don’t lose heart in the small things of life or ministry size. God is with you in those places. We can take small steps of faithfulness with daily habits of the heart, solitude, scripture reading, confession, prayer, and listening in obedience to God. The small unseen places and things matter!