Small Beginnings

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his fields.  Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” Matthew 13:32.

In an attempt to explain the meaning of the kingdom, Jesus referred to a mustard seed, with which His audience was familiar.   No doubt they knew exactly how tiny this seed was, and could picture the grand tree which it could become.  We all need reminding that big things coming from small beginnings.

It is easy to forget how the small things we do in our Christian walk provide blessings for others.  The woman who teaches Sunday School to children plants a small seed in their hearts for an adult faith later on.  A man stops on his busy day and listens to the problems of a stranger seated next to him, encouraging the stranger’s heart while sharing his faith.  Some of my most cherished memories are of older people, who impacted my faith through humble displays of kindness as a child.  They were unaware that they planted a seed when they gave me a hug for nothing.  They had no idea their compassion on the loneliest of days took root so that I may later have compassion to others. 

God calls all of us to plant a seed in small and unnoticed ways.  ‘We believe that to truly engage in the kingdom work of Jesus Christ we need to immediately have some highly visible, numerically significant, widely recognized impact.  That is simply not true.  Expanding the kingdom of heaven takes place in the small.’ Subversive Kingdom, p. 112.  I used to be guilty of this belief when God called me put in place ELM in 2008.  He led me to plant the tiniest of seed with no visible growth.  He didn’t show me some grandiose destination where He would take ELM, but rather kept me dropping a seed in the ground day by day, post by post.  Only when I awake in heaven will I see the impact ELM made.  The point is not to see the size of the tree behind us, but the next empty spot to plant before us.

Your daily walk is of extreme importance and is critical to the kingdom.   You are the one chosen to plant certain seeds in certain places…it is your calling…it is your destiny…it is your mustard seed.