Mustard Seed Faith Is Still Faith

If your faith feels small right now, you are in better company than you think.

The disciples — the men who had watched Him walk on water — came to Jesus and said, "Increase our faith!" They were asking for more. He answered with a seed:

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." — Luke 17:6

He did not give them more faith. He redefined how much was needed.

The size was never the point

A mustard seed is roughly a millimeter across. Jesus chose it deliberately as the smallest thing His listeners handled regularly.

The lesson is not "a little faith has a little power." It is that faith is not a substance you accumulate until you have enough to trigger God's action. Faith is a direction. A small amount of trust placed in an enormous God accomplishes more than an enormous confidence placed in yourself.

Think of it like a key. A key is not powerful. It weighs almost nothing. But it fits a lock that a hundred pounds of force will not open. The strength was never in the key.

Faith that argues with itself

One of my favorite moments in the Gospels is a father whose son has suffered for years. He says to Jesus, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

Jesus catches the if. And the man answers with the most honest sentence in Scripture:

"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" — Mark 9:24

Belief and unbelief in the same breath, from the same man, about the same thing. And Jesus healed the boy.

He did not require the father to resolve his contradiction first. That should settle something for those of us who have prayed a prayer and immediately wondered if we meant it.

Seeds are supposed to be buried

Jesus used the mustard seed a second way: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed... though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants" (Matthew 13:31–32).

Notice the process. A seed does not grow by being examined. It grows by being put in the dark and left alone for a while.

Faith grows the same way, and often in the same conditions — in the dark, out of sight, without any evidence that anything is happening. The seasons that feel most spiritually barren are frequently the ones doing the most root work. You do not feel roots grow. You only find out later that you were harder to knock over than you used to be.

What grows faith, practically

Faith is not primarily grown by trying to believe harder. It grows by exposure and by exercise.

Exposure: "Faith comes from hearing the message" (Romans 10:17). You cannot trust a God you never hear from. Ten minutes of Scripture does more than an hour of straining.

Exercise: faith grows by being used in small ways. Ask for the small thing. Obey the small nudge. Every time you act on trust, the muscle thickens slightly.

Memory: the Israelites piled stones after God came through so their children would ask about them. Remembered faithfulness is the raw material of present faith. Keep a record.

Company: faith is contagious. Sit near someone who has been walking with God longer than you have and listen to how she talks about Him.

What this looks like today

Bring the faith you actually have. Not the faith you wish you had. "God, I mostly do not believe this will change, and I am asking anyway." That is a real prayer and He has answered ones like it many times.

Do the next obedient thing. Faith is usually revealed in a decision, not a feeling.

Stop measuring. Faith is not a quantity you can check. Checking your faith is like digging up a seed to see if it is growing.

Give it time in the dark. Some seasons produce nothing visible. Stay planted.

A prayer

Jesus, my faith feels like almost nothing today, and I am bringing it anyway. I do believe; help my unbelief. I am not asking to feel certain — just to keep facing You. Grow what is small. Amen.

Reflect

• Where are you waiting to feel more certain before you act?
• What has God done in the past that you have stopped telling yourself about?
• What is one small act of obedience available to you today?

One small step

Pray one honest prayer that admits your doubt inside it. Then do one small thing you would do if you believed.