Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise for Thursday, 24 July 2014 - Read Matthew 13:31-33

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise for Thursday, 24 July 2014 - Read Matthew 13:31-32 Another story. “God’s kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it.”
33 Another story. “God’s kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises.”(The Message)
Our side view car mirrors say, "Objects are closer than they appear." So it is true of the mustard seed in Jesus' parable. It is not as meager as it seems. It points to a larger reality of how things are in God's kingdom. It's a kingdom where a small mustard seed grows into a big tree and provides shelter and a home for birds seeking sanctuary. Our faith is like that as well. Like a mustard seed, our faith starts with a small belief, an acceptance of Christ's invitation when he says, "Follow me." Yet when faith and trust grow in our relationship with Jesus, we realize that our faith in Jesus provides us a great deal more than we might first imagine or hope. Our small faith provides us shelter from God's oncoming judgment and wrath, and that same faith in Christ provides us an eternal home in Christ's promise of salvation for all who believe in him.
God of salvation, we thank you for the huge gifts that our small faith provides. Amen.
Sean Forde
Port Saint Lucie, Fla. 
Master of Divinity , 2005
Matthew 13:31 He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;
32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
33 He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."(New Revised Standard Version)
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