Walk Of Life – Day 04, May 2022- Thoughts From The Words Of Jesus Christ
The Mustard Seed
Jesus put another parable before them. He said, ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32It is the smallest of all seeds, but it grows larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree. The birds of the air can come and make nests in its branches.’” (Matthew 13:31-32).
This parable is also in Mark 4:30-34 and Luke 13:18-19. Jesus’ parables are short stories that teach a moral or spiritual lesson using ordinary everyday experiences, analogy or similar comparisons. Some stories were based on the agriculture familiar to the people of His day. It is the lesson we learn from the parable that is important. They were designed to cause a person to think and have new attitudes and behaviors that would lead one to desire the treasure God offers.
Luke 13:18-21, “Then Jesus asked, ‘What is the Kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree and the birds of the air perched on it’s branches.’ Each one of Jesus parables teaches one or two important lessons. These parables must be listened to, carefully studied and searched out in the heart of each person who hears them. Jesus wants us to truly seek truth; He wants us to be hungry, with a deep desire to know truth. We should want truth more than riches, position, power, and acceptance.
The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a 10 to 12-foot tree. It is so large the birds of the air come and make its nest in the branches. Just as the tiny tree grows into a large tree, the Kingdom of God will grow into a large tree and will become a powerful Spiritual Kingdom and eventually control the world.
The parable of the mustard seed also describes how God’s Kingdom grows in the life of each believer. When a person puts his trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live within. This is similar to the mustard seed being planted in the ground. No one can see it from the outside, but it is within the believer.
At first, the believer may not feel much different, but the Spirit is powerful and transforms that person from the inside out. Just like the seed produces a mustard seed tree and branches on which the birds rest, likewise the Holy Spirit produces good fruit in those who believe.
The spiritual fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That is not all it brings — it also brings compassion, truth, knowledge, forgiveness, healing and righteousness.
This does not happen quickly, it is a process. The person becomes new in Christ. God’s Word says that a tree planted by the water cannot be moved. As believers, we become like those trees, we cannot be moved and we are solid in Christ. I pray each one will have that tiny mustard seed of faith because the Bible says we can move mountains (overcome all obstacles and trials) as we journey to our Heavenly Home.
In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, “If you have faith as a 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.”
Ephesians 2:2, “Our God able to exceedingly and abundantly above all we ask or think.”
