Saturday, March 10, 2012

The Mustard Seed

The scripture is popular. I even have it on my desktop of my computer. Matthew 17:20 speaks of having the faith of a mustard seed. It says if we have such faith we can move mountains. I don't know about you but there are plenty of mountains in my own life. The mountains of depression, doubt, pain, overeating, laziness, etc are just a few I can think of at this moment.

But how many times do we actually stop to think about that little mustard seed of Faith?

Our faith is compared to that little mustard seed. A seed that is so small it would be missed and looked over among other greats like the sunflower and cucumber. But it grows into a full grown tree... BUT it takes somethings to make that seed grow. We can't just leave a seed to itself and expect it to blossom. If we leave a seed alone it remains dormant, asleep, just like our faith. We have to DO SOMETHING with that seed.

It takes three basic things to get a seed to grow. And I believe that these three things can be translated into three things we need for our faith to grow and blossom into the mountain moving faith we want it to be.

#1... Water. Pretty simple. But a seed needs water. And we, as believer in Christ, need His Living Water. In John 4 Jesus is speaking with the woman at the well. In verse 10 we read, "Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Jesus, a relationship with Him, is our living water. Pretty simple. Have a relationship with Christ (a relationship that you are seeking after Him) and you will be given living water.

#2... Light. Again... simple enough. Plants need sunlight to grow. We need the Light of the World to grow our faith. In Matthew 5:14 we are called to be the light of the world. In order to be that light though we have to stay connected to the source of all light... Jesus.

#3.... Here's where it gets tricky. Dirt. Yep. Good old dirt or soil. Now you're probably asking how I can turn that into a scriptural reference for Jesus. Truth is, I can't. Jesus isn't the dirt. Jesus is anything but the dirt. WE ARE THE DIRT. Our lives, the "stuff" that God allows... THAT'S the dirt. The trials, the tribulations, the things that happen and leave us shaking our head... it's all dirt. The junk that makes us wonder if God is really there, if He remembers our names... it's all dirt. The dirt is what really gets our faith to grow. Our faith grows in the muck and mire of life... not in the happy go lucky, ain't life dandy times.

A seed soaked in water will grow but not thrive or reproduce without dirt. A seed left in the light, without dirt and water, will only burn up.

You see, God hasn't forgotten you. He does love you. He uses the dirt in life to grow us into His image, the image of His glorious son, who came and died for us. He is giving you the dirt that you need to grow. None of us asks for more dirt, but in His wisdom He knows just how much dirt we need. And sometimes, we shake all the dirt off and try to get clean on our own. And those are the times God is going to give us more dirt. He wants to be sure that we grow in His name. Not on our own. On our own we can't grow. Just like a seed can't grow without the sun, light and dirt. So embrace your dirt. Love the dirt. Roll around in it. Rub it on your face and look up to the One who sees you, even in the dirt, and loves you anyway.