He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)
The mustard seed is probably the smallest thing Jesus' hearers could imagine. They didn't have microscopes yet, so He couldn't say, "The kingdom of God is like a mitochondria...." But the mustard seed works better anyway, because it represents growth.
The mustard seed, to me, is the moment when we say to Jesus, "Yes, I believe you're the Son of God, and I want to give you my life." In a world full of billions of people, that may seem a small thing; but God says it can move mountains into the sea.
A few days ago, I was writing about gardens. We work hard in the gardens of our ministry--feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, speaking kind words, walking in love--but God is the one who grows the harvest. We can't make plants grow, no matter how much fertilizer we dump on the seeds.
I think personal sanctification--the process of becoming more like Jesus--works in the same way. We meet God with a mustard seed of faith, and He starts doing miraculous work in us.
We all have mountains. Most of them grew up out of our past, ugly, jutting, rocky scars on our spirits. They look impossible to move. Most of us have accepted them as simply part of the landscapes of our hearts. They form into ranges: anxiety, resentment, offense, fear of rejection, insecurities, anger, hopelessness, depression, impatience, unkind thought patterns, and every other visible or invisible sin we harbor.
It's the "American way" to conquer the mountains. Just picture little pioneers, defenseless against the wind and snow, doggedly driving oxen and covered wagons through the Rockies on their way to Oregon, their determination evidenced on their grim faces. We are told that we must work hard, that we can do anything, that there are ways to fix us, if only we would try hard enough. A good result of that is that many of those pioneers did make it over the mountains. (Well, just don't think about the Donner party.) But there's a catch: the mountains are still there.
It's important on this Fourth of July weekend to reflect on who we are and how our culture formed us. And, for many of us, the atmosphere of self-determination/motivation/whatever has just left us feeling like failures.
Why? Because we can't move those mountains by ourselves. We strive hard, alone, to conquer anxiety, bitterness, jealousy (the list goes on and on), and to "grow" the fruits of the Spirit instead. But that just looks like some little person at the base of a mountain, striving with all his might to pick it up and cast it into the sea.
It ain't happenin', bro.
This isn't to say that you shouldn't weed the garden of your soul, pulling out distractions, sinful behaviors, and other things that try to choke the life of God out of you. But what I am saying is that, if you meet God with a little mustard seed, just a teeny bit of surrender in a particular area of your life, He will respond by sending His Spirit to do the work in you.
You just have to bring Him the seed. That's harder than it sounds, since we have often been disappointed by our own efforts to fight sin and past issues. But, "I will not leave you as orphans," said Jesus (John 14:18). "...I will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth..." (John 14:16-17).
Even Paul said, "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13). The "work out your own salvation" part sounds like great all-American advice...and then Paul blasts it with the second half of his statement.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
Come to Jesus and ask Him to baptize you with His Spirit, as He promised. Believe you receive it. That's your mustard seed faith.
There is a garden inside of you, and the Holy Spirit has to produce the fruits in you. That's why they're called "fruits of the spirit," not "fruits of hard labor." Yes, you must create an environment in your spirit conducive to growth. Yes, you must weed, consciously removing distractions and sins. And you can definitely starve out your seeds if you don't water them with the Word.
But you don't have to get all American about it.
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