Luke 17:6- “He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you.’”
Interpretation: Here Jesus is telling his disciples about the amount of faith they need in order for God to do great things after they ask him to increase their faith. I think the more common verse I hear about faith the size of a mustard seed is Matthew 17:20 when Jesus tells the disciples, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” I guess these things are exciting, but don’t get their full point across until we understand what a mustard seed is. Jesus says in Mark 4:31-32 that the kingdom of God “is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” The mustard seed was in fact the smallest seed in Israel, so everyone who heard Jesus speak would be able to understand the amount of faith Jesus was talking about. I’m sure this blew everyone away. I often feel like I need to literally, “muster” up a great deal of faith and find scriptures to support me and put all of my focus into believing something, when that is not really what faith is all about. Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” and verse 6 tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists.” I had faith when I flew to Montana that the plane was not going to crash, and I had faith this morning that the sun was going to rise. I must have faith each time I approach God that he loves me and he hears my every prayer. I feel like the obvious things come with faith that doesn’t acquire much of me, but when my true desires and wants are on the line I begin to question if God is going to let me have them. I need to take this application of small true mustard seed faith and apply it to my mulberry trees and my mountains, instead of things that aren’t that personal or vital to me. God wants to do great things in my life, not just mediocre, and I need to play my part and have faith that he is going to do that.
Application: I will IBS Hebrews 11 Pastor Steve style and learn how others had true faith so that I can hold more of God’s powerful word in my heart.
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