A good day, Father, gathering with Your people, interacting with them in so many ways. Thank You for Your many blessings! I pray for the continued blessings of Your hand upon my shoulder. Actually, I know that Your hand will be there…what I earnestly pray for is that I will continue to heed Your will. Amen.
Luke 13:18-21 (<<click here to read the passage)
It is easy to feel small and insignificant in the world. In my circle of friends and associates, I don’t think there are a lot of movers and shakers…at least according to the world’s standards.
We think that we really don’t make a big difference. We are single individuals and standing alone, how can we make any substantial impact on the way things are.
For example, isn’t our world a wreck? Sure, there are pockets of love and compassion. But, specifically here in the United States, we are so divided. We are seemingly incapable of reconciliation. I feel this way. You feel that way. …and never the two shall meet. I say, “Well, I’m not going to change.” And you say, “I’m not going to either!”
So, what are we to do? It is not in the least bit enjoyable to be in opposition to others. This whole pandemic thing and the way the lists of dos and don’ts has become a line in the sand that we dare not cross absolutely drains me. Today I just feel beat… I’ve not had anyone get in my face about their take on things today, but I have sure felt the undercurrent of mindsets running strong.
So, what can I do?
Jesus in today’s passage speaks of mustard seed. The study notes in the Amplified Bible says, “In ancient Israel, the mustard seed was the smallest known seed.” When Jesus referred to it, He was referring to something small and insignificant. In and of itself, it amounted to very little in the eyes of the world but that sure doesn’t stop the mustard seed! When planted “it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.”
Jesus was driving home the point that the Kingdom of God wasn’t busting into the world. It wasn’t big and bombastic! It wasn’t screaming in your face so everyone would notice.
My study Bible* notes said,
Then general expectation among Jesus’ hearers was that the Messiah would come as a great king and leader, freeing the nation from Rome and restoring Israel’s former glory. But Jesus said his Kingdom was beginning quietly. Like a tiny mustard seed that grows into an enormous tree…the Kingdom of God would eventually push outward until the whole world was changed.
It still works that way today. Like the mustard seed, when the world looks at me and who I am and what I do, it is not too greatly impressed. I am insignificant. But… when I am working in line with God’s will, when I am seeking His glory and not my own, my smallness becomes His greatness.
I truly pray that burying myself in Him, though seemingly a small thing, little by little becomes a big thing. My attitudes and mindsets when filtered through His love and compassion begin to change things. When I pray for others, as well as myself, change ensues. It may be imperceptible at first – mustard seed in size – but as I said in a sermon a couple of weeks ago, when God gets into the equation, He is not just an addition to our resources, He is a MULTIPLIER!
So, world beware! I have a mustard seed, and I’m not afraid to use it!
Aug 23rd, 2020, Sun, 7:56 pm
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
