Make Mine with Mustard!

In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus offers metaphors (often called parables) to help us understand the true nature of the Kingdom of Heaven. He compares the Kingdom with:

• seeds in soil
• wheat in weeds
• plants in a garden
• yeast in doe
• a treasure in a field
• a pearl in a marketplace
• a net in a lake

I love these comparisons, for in helping me understand the Kingdom of Heaven, they instruct me in living as a citizen in that Kingdom.

For instance, 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, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Matthew 13.31-32).

This parable reminds me that I should not despise the day of small things. (See Zechariah 4.10 as well.) The Kingdom in me does not start fully grown, nor does any Kingdom work that I do. Instead it starts small and grows. Like a mustard seed, the secret of the Kingdom’s success is not in its size, but in the life it contains. Growth comes from the life that is in the mustard seed, and growth comes from the life of the Kingdom that is in me (or in my Kingdom work).

So, I will confidently do what this parable instructs me to do as a Kingdom citizen, living Kingdom life and doing Kingdom work:

1. Take the seed of the Kingdom
2. Plant it in the fertile soil of obedience and faith
3. Watch it grow from the smallest to the largest
4. See it become a tree of refuge and hope to myself and to those around me

Happy gardening!