Growing Faith to Feed Our Souls

Spring is upon us and it is almost time to plant our garden. Trees are starting to bud and the flowers are coming to life. When we plant seeds we anxiously await them sprouting. We water them and make sure they get sunshine and check for little green leaves to start emerging from the ground. It is astounding that you can plant a a tiny little seed and get such large plants if they are cared for properly.

This scenario is much like the parable of the mustard seed. Matthew 13:31-32 says, ” 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 garden plant and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.’ ” There are many interpretations of these verses and they can be applied to a variety of areas of our lives.

This can be likened to our actions as Christians as well. An act of kindness that seems small to us can mean the world to someone else. Stopping by to chat with an elderly neighbor can take but a few minutes out of our day but to the lonely neighbor it can be the bright spot in their day that makes them feel loved and worthy. As we go about our day, we need to be cognizant of areas where we can reach out to others in need.

We all seem to be a small insignificant part of God’s creation but in His eyes our importance is the size of a large mustard tree. All of His creation is important to Him. We need to study His Word to nourish our hearts and minds with His will. The more we grow as Christian believers, the more we can help others to learn of His sovereign power.

In Matthew 17:20 Jesus replies to his disciples, ” Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, 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.” Jesus is explaining to his disciples that it only takes a small amount of faith to be able to move great difficulties.

We can apply this to our lives today. Faith is a complete trust or confidence in someone or something. We have faith in many things in our daily lives. We have faith that the chair we sit on will hold us. We have faith that when we turn the key our car will start. We put faith in money, that it will buy us all of the things that we think we need. But we often fail to have faith in the one that will always be there and never fail us…God. We can guarantee that everything in this life will fail us at one time or another but God will never fail us. If we put our faith in Him, He will help us move the mountain or difficulty that we face. However, we must also have faith in His will and purpose for our lives. What we think is the answer is quite often not a part of God’s plan for our lives. We must strive to have the faith of the mustard seed that God’s perfect plan for us will work out as it should. That can be a very difficult concept to wrap our heads around because we think we know what is best for our lives and what our path should be. However, plans can change and God will present opportunities that you never thought would be possible. With prayer we need to lay all of our thoughts at God and have faith that He will guide us in the direction we should go. The reason that I started writing this blog was by doing just that.

Proverbs 16:9 – “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”