![]() When the disciples asked why they failed, Jesus uses the mustard seed analogy to explain: “Because of your little faith. Jesus’ disciples tried and failed to exorcise the demon, but He succeeded with one rebuke. In this instance in Matthew 17, however, the Lord uses it to discuss faith with his disciples.Ī man had a son possessed by a demon that gave the child seizures, forcing him to often fall into water and fire. The mustard seed comparison appears several times in the Gospels, usually as a metaphor for the Kingdom of God. Faith must grow, and be tested, and be acted upon with good deeds and evangelism. James even wrote, “faith without works is dead” ( James 2:26b). ![]() The courage to share faith in dangerous settings, or to be martyred for it takes a lot of faith. If someone has faith that God saved their sins, but that God cannot heal an illness, they have a smaller amount of faith than someone who does. The things people will do for God, and their courage they do it with, is correlated with the amount of faith present. Faith cannot remain static or the same in order to have a deeper relationship with the Lord. Mustard trees are huge, despite the size of their seeds. It eventually germinates, where the seedling breaks out of the shell, and grows into a full-sized plant. Of course, the truth about a seed is that it does not remain a seed. By following God’s plan, Christians will do great things for Him, even with the small faith they have at the beginning of their walk. God wants to work with these believers to bring others to Himself, and to build His kingdom “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” ( John 14:12). When a believer begins their journey, they have just begun to learn about how much God loves them, how much He wants to do for them, and all that He has for them. The mustard seed in Jesus’ example symbolizes the potential in faith. Their seeds are very small, but they grow large. ![]() They can thrive in environments typically hostile to plants. Classified as an evergreen, the Salvadora perisica can grow to twenty feet wide and tall. The mustard seed would have been a common enough plant in that culture they would be able to picture it without reference. What Does It Mean to Have Faith of a Mustard Seed? God wants to work with His people, but will not force them to become instruments of His will like puppets instead He works through them based on their faith, challenging believers to a deeper relationship with Him. Jesus said to those struggling with belief, “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). One of the most powerful is that faith can be like a mustard seed. ![]()
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