A Little Goes a Long Way (with God)
“And He said to them, ‘Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.’”
— Matthew 17:20
It covers 5 square acres in the middle of a city of almost 154,000 acres, yet its name alone has stood out in world history for over two hundred years, becoming a cultural phenomenon and symbol of hope and honor. If you don’t recognize it, your dads most certainly will! “Remember the Alamo!” With 180 men behind the walls of a ramshackle fort, the Texas Revolution made a pivotal turn at the Alamo in securing Texas as a state in the American Union, and put names like William Travis, Sam Houston, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett (“King of the wild frontier”) on the map.
The songwriter said, “Little is much when God is in it!” Are you feeling small and overwhelmed by large and imposing forces around you? Are you sensing needs in your life greater than your abilities to match?
If you said yes, then I say Great! Here’s why: because coming to a place of honesty with your own inabilities is the starting point for God’s work in your life. You and I don’t have even a mustard seed faith, but we can!
This statement from Jesus is a use of linguistic hyperbole, meaning that our Lord is teaching a real lesson with exaggerated terms. Mustard seeds were not crops the ancient people wanted because the plants were invasive, so it wasn’t something the general mind would see as a good thing. Also, Jesus didn’t intend for this to be a proof text for possessing some superpower faith that can create whatever we want out of thin air. Faith isn’t something we possess naturally so we do not get to put a monopoly on it.
Faith is a gift of God, just like grace (Eph. 2:8-9). We are given faith to believe, then to exercise our ongoing dependence on the Lord, but we don’t have faith in faith—we have faith in the promises of the Lord. None of us have “enough” faith of our own, but through even the smallest amount (a mustard seed is about 2 millimeters around), God can do massively miraculous things. I don’t advise you to walk outside with a tiny seed in your mind and talk to any mountains (or hills in my case) or mulberry trees, and start telling them to close up shop and do as you say. But I do advise you to look at impossible circumstances that are seemingly unchangeable (like ancient mountains and singular plants) and believe that God can do whatever He pleases, because He can.
Don’t believe me? Nothing is more impossible than death. Physical, spiritual and eternal death are no match for Jesus! He conquered the grave, He disarmed Hell, He ransomed the lost, giving dead men freedom to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you know Him, you know I’m telling the truth!
I’m not going to flatter you with ideas of self-motivation, to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and just release your inner power. We’re a mess and left to ourselves, the mess only gets messier. But even the smallest and weakest faith in a great God has the potential for earth-shaking works of His will and purpose. And when He moves, it will leave a lasting impression. “Remember the Mustard Seed!”
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
— Ephesians 3:20-21
SDG!