Not A Tree

Matthew 13:31-32  He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”


If faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain what can a full grown faith accomplish. I never could imagine wanting to tell a mountain to go from here to there. What in the world would I want that for unless the mountain was a mountain of fried clams or something. But I can see lots of things that a mature faith could accomplish. In Ephesiams as elsewhere Paul talks about our growing into the fullness of faith, and that we would no longer be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. When I came to a real faith I thought I had made it. I couldn't imagine anything better. I look from this point in my life and see it was just the mustard seed or maybe not even that. I look back and I see that what I saw as maturity still left me tossed to and fro at times by the push and pull of the forces in the world. Now looking at my place in the scheme of things or thinking about the future I don't claim maturity just progress. I've come to realize that my view of mature faith will evolve as I mature. All I can and should do is trust that, although I could still be just a twig in God's eyes, I will move toward being the mustard tree in the gospel. We don't wait to start accomplishing things for God until we are fully mature as we can't even assess when that might be. We use our faith at whatever level of maturity we have achieved to use that faith for the growth of the kingdom.