No Seed is Too Small…

“Faith is not speaking into existence what we want, it’s believing and obeying what He wants.”

~Martha Mac

Scripture:

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?  He said to them, “Because of your little faith.  For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

~Matthew 17:19-20

Perspective:

The world’s smallest known seed comes from tropical orchids and weighs just 10-billionths of an ounce, it is like dust, while the largest seed comes from the fruit of the double coconut palm.  However, Jesus refers to the (black or white) mustard seed as the smallest seed.  In His parable, He was not comparing this seed to every seed throughout the world but rather to all the seeds a first-century Palestinian farmer might sow in his field.  Its germination is very quick, it can literally be planted on a Monday and begin growing on Tuesday.  It grows more than most plants in a single season, growing to an average height of 10 to 12-feet.  Technically, it is a large herb but considered a bush, while its’ stem is dry and wood-like much like a tree.  For the size of this tiny seed, its’ growth is remarkable.  Faith is much like the mustard seed, a little bit can lead to extraordinary things!  You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once.  Thus shall you do for six days.  Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark.  On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.  When they make a long blast with the rams horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him (Joshua 6:3-5).  The result of their faith and obedience was a captured city.

If we have faith in our purpose and trust in God’s will for our life, there is no limit to what we will be able to accomplish in this life if we persevere!  Did you know Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team?  Only to then become one of the greatest basketball players in history.  His attitude, shown in the quote that follows, demonstrates what failure can do if we allow it to: “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”  Farther back in history we find Babe Ruth, who is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time, an honor that is well deserved given his home run record.  However, when he retired in 1935, he also held the record for the most strikeouts in Major League Baseball.  He struck out and returned to the dugout twice as often as he ran the bases!  He explained it this way: “I just go up there and I swing.  I just keep on swinging and I keep on swinging.  Every strike brings me closer to my next home run.”  What a great way to look at it.  He could have focused on the many strike-outs like so many would, leading to feelings of discouragement, which very well may have affected the way he played throughout his career, but instead he focused on the fact that the more times he swung, the more home runs he would hit.  THAT was a conscious and rewarding choice he made!

J.K. Rowling was a single mom on welfare when she wrote her first Harry Potter novel; it was then rejected 12 times, in fact, she was told, “not to quit her day job.”  She persisted in her dream, achieved her goals and then some, and was later named the first billionaire author!  As I have mentioned before, Stephen King’s first book, Carrie, was rejected 30 times before it was finally accepted, and only because his wife took it out of the trash can he had thrown it into and encouraged him to keep trying.  As a young journalist, Oprah Winfrey was hired as co-anchor of the evening news at Baltimore’s ABC affiliate.  She was then dropped from that position after just a few months.  She was sent from the anchor chair to a variety of less prestigious jobs including writing and street reporting.  She was a slow writer and was continuously being yelled at to produce copy faster.  She has called her early years at WJZ the, “first and worst failure of her TV career.”  Many people in her shoes would have given up and pursued a different career, but she kept the faith and learned lessons from her time in Baltimore.  More importantly, she used those lessons to point her in a better direction and the rest is (world) history.  As a young man, Walt Disney was fired from his newspaper job for “lack of good ideas.”  In 1921, he started his first animation company, but that quickly went bankrupt.  He ended up literally eating dog food just to survive. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that most people who had to eat dog food due to the failure of their first company, would not start another similar company but rather choose a job with some security.  Walt Disney did start another company, in fact he had to restart several more times before finally becoming successful and boy did he!

In 1889 Henry Ford left his comfortable job to create the Detroit Automobile Company with $150,000. of investors’ money.  Just over a year later it went bankrupt.  Luckily for him, his investors kept the faith and invested in the Henry Ford Company in 1901.  This company also went bankrupt.  Many would have given up and moved on to more of a sure thing, but not Ford, he had faith in his ideas and so he persisted.  In 1903 he established the Ford Motor Company.  Five years later the company became a success with the release of the Model-T and the invention of the assembly line!

After a rough upbringing in Brooklyn and being deserted by his dad at age 11, JAY-Z was turned down as a rapper by many record labels in the business.  One of their concerns was that he was not “hard enough,” since he did not rap about drugs or crime, he used rap to escape those things.  Instead of giving up, he took a leap of faith and formed his own record label to release his first album.  In 2019 JAY-Z became the first billionaire rapper.  The world-renowned Beatles were turned down by record label after record label, despite some local success playing cover songs in clubs in the United Kingdom.  In one infamous rejection, an executive at Decca Records declined signing them saying, “guitar groups are on the way out” and “the Beatles have no future in show business.”  That rejection is now considered one of the biggest mistakes in music history.  Again, many would have thrown in the towel, but the Beatles kept the faith and persevered, and EVERYONE knows how that turned out for them!  Fred Astaire had the opportunity for a screen test early in his career at MGM Studios.  The feedback was not good, in fact it was awful.  The director’s note read: “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Not handsome. Can dance a little.”  After becoming extremely successful, he displayed that note in his Beverly Hills mansion to remind himself to never take no for an answer!  His career spanned over 76-years beginning in the early 1900s.

There are many more “famous failures” in the world today, throughout history, and all through the Bible.  With faith in our purpose, trust in God, and then intentional effort, grit, perseverance, resiliency, and some risks, no goal is too big to achieve.  We just never know how close we are to attaining our dreams and goals unless we refuse to give up!  And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.”  So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out to Jesus, “Lord, save me.”  Jesus immediately reached his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

~Michael Jordan

Life Applications:

>Do you ask God to reveal his purpose and plan for you when you pray?  Do you genuinely believe and trust in His plan for you in this life, which can be quite different at different points throughout life?  Do you then listen for His voice and make yourself available to Him?  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

>>What are your dreams?  Have you turned them into goals yet?  Have you added the smaller, manageable essential steps under each?  And have you begun doing the work necessary to achieve those goals?  God has a plan for your life, He did so when you were in your mother’s womb.  He will do His part, but only when you do yours!  Mistakes will not derail God’s plans, if we learn the lessons he pairs with our mistakes.  The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps (Proverbs 16:9).

>>>As we near the new year, do not make resolutions, but rather review and revise your goals in each life area and the vital steps to reach them.  You CAN do it with God as your strength!  One of the reasons that life is difficult is so we choose to lean on God and his strength.  I can do all things through him who strengths me (Philippians 4:13).