Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Speaker 1

This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada sharing hope with a story about mustard seeds from Joni.

Speaker 2

And you know the parable, the one in Matthew, chapter 13, verses 31 to 32, where Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree.

Now, I've always been fascinated by that parable, but never more so than when Ken and I visited the Holy Land some years ago. One day we went to the little village of Bethany, just over the hill from Jerusalem. Next to a white wall, an Arab had set up a little table on which he was selling small jars of mustard seeds. Ken purchased a little bottle, came back to the man, and emptied the contents in his hand. But I was disappointed with what I saw. I mean, these were small pods, about the size of a pea. I thought, well, sure, this is small, but it's not that small.

However, my disappointment turned to amazement when Ken crushed one of those mustard pods in his hand. And inside were thousands and thousands of teensy tiny specks, seeds so infinitesimally small they looked like pencil dots. Now, there are many lessons that can be drawn from this parable. It is, after all, a parable about the kingdom of heaven. But another aspect is this thing about the mustard seed becoming the largest tree in the garden. Like, what's that all about?

Well, let's quickly look at another verse where Jesus in Matthew chapter 17 says to his disciples, you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Now get this. Jesus is not comparing mustard seed sized faith to large faith. No, he's comparing little faith, friend. The point is we have no idea, we have no concept, we have no understanding of just how weak and small and little our faith really is.

Why, Jesus says that if our little faith were only the size of a little mustard seed, at least then we could brush aside the mountains that stand in the way of the Gospel. But you know what? Like that mustard seed that slowly turns into a tree, our faith can grow. If we persevere, if we endure, if we hold on and believe in Jesus, if we rely on him, trust in and hold fast to him, our tiny little mustard seed sized faith will grow strong and large.

And then watch out. Watch the way God moves mountains out of your path as you live for Christ, nothing will be impossible for you. No prayer that you offer will be denied, no venture you undertake for the gospel will fail. Your job is to persevere and place your faith in Christ. And as you do, the kingdom of heaven, that mustard tree so large and roomy, it'll be evident to all, no one will miss the fact that you have faith in Christ.

I hope this encourages you today, because the kingdom parables in Matthew chapter 13 are so rich, they're so uplifting.

Speaker 1

And friend, you deserve to hear even more encouragement and biblical insights from Joni. So go to joniradio.org and be blessed by Joni's wisdom. Be blessed by the Word of God.

Listening friend, we want to pray for you. Go to joniradio.org today and leave us your prayer request.

And be sure to share that link with a friend in need of encouragement too. It's joniradio.

Speaker 2

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