“And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

               -Luke 17:6

For many months now I’ve been struggling with the modern definition of  mustard seed-like faith. Most of the time verses like this are interpreted to mean that just a little faith in God is sufficient, but the fact is that we find just as many Scriptures in which Christ actually rebuked His followers for having only a little faith in Him (examples).

After thinking about this extensively, though, I think I’ve finally come to understand what our Lord truly meant when He said to have faith “as a grain of mustard seed.” The answer, as always, can be found in Scripture:

“The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”

               -Matthew 13:31-32

Notice that in these verses the mustard seed is not only characterized by its size, but by its eventual growth into something large. It may start out small, but it certainly doesn’t stay that way and soon becomes something quite noticeable to all who pass by.

In the same way, our faith in God often starts out small. It might be just enough to bring you to an altar of repentance, but that’s okay. The moment that seed of faith is planted within you, if watered properly, should begin to grow and flourish in such a way that it soon breaks through the surface and makes itself known to the world (II Thessalonians 1:3).

The problem too many of us face, however, is that our faith never breaks through the hard and rocky soil of our pride. Far from being a tree which gives shelter to others when their own is lacking, we hide it away in the dark corners of our life and foolishly expect it to grow when it can barely even live. This certainly isn’t having faith like a mustard seed, and I suspect that most of us would greatly benefit from having our faith watered a bit. But just remember that a seed needs more than water to grow; it needs light, too.