GROWTH OF FAITH

Matthew 17:20 He replied, “Because 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.”

In his sermon, Pastor Harry showed us how small mustard seeds are as they were
depicted in the palm of a hand. Then he showed us a picture of mustard bush that was
likely fifteen feet in height. He spoke to the time it takes for the tiny seed to grow into a
massive bush and the process involved in its growth. How does God grow our faith in a
similar process?

One analogy that we could use is that of a rose bush. If we could imagine for a moment
that a rose bush could think, what would it feel as it tried to grow the best roses
possible?

With the sunshine and gentle watering it receives in the Spring, it might think, “this is the
life, this is what growth is all about. This is exactly how growth should happen.”

Then, just as the new growth starts, along comes the gardener with some fertilizer, then
treatments for pests and disease. The rose bush probably thinks this isn’t what it had in
mind for growth. Then winter comes and the rose bush gets down because its leaves
and flowers are gone. To top it off, the gardener comes in with the pruning shears.

When we understand the ways that God grows us as believers, it doesn’t make life
perfect and it doesn’t mean that growing will never hurt but it does enable us to
understand what God is up to in our lives.

While we always are hoping God will transform us without any work on our part, God
wants us to participate and, like the rose bush, sometimes the process is not easily
accepted or understood. It is by faith that we grow through the process.

We all start as a mustard seed with the opportunity to grow into a huge bush. Grow!