Mustard Seed Faith

Matthew 17:20 says: And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. (KJV) You will often hear this verse used to demonstrate how you only need a small amount of faith. You will hear that the mustard seed was a very small seed in the Middle East and that is what Yeshua (Jesus) is teaching. However, when we explore the Greek text, something different presents itself. The Greek word translated "as" is the word hos. It means how or in what manner or way. Specifically, when it is before a noun or adjective, it means as, like as, or like. Perhaps Yeshua is not teaching us about the size of the seed. Perhaps He is teaching us about the nature of a seed.

A seed has within it everything it needs to produce after its own kind. It was made that way. That is its purpose. In the same way, when we are born again, we have everything inside of us to be a success for God. The seed is planted in the soil. That soil has the nutrients necessary to cause the seed to grow into its purpose. Likewise, the Word of God has everything we need to grow into our purpose for God. The seed merely reacts to the soil. It rests in the soil. Similarly, we are to rest in the truth of God's Word. Then the seed receives the moisture from above to aid in the growth process and produces a harvest. We are to allow the Holy Spirit to have free rein in our lives to apply the Word of God to every aspect of our existence. When we do, we will have faith like a seed that allowed the soil and water to cause it to produce.

Yeshua wants us to have faith like a seed. Life teaches us that having a little faith really doesn't work. A "little faith" was the disciples' problem. We need faith like a seed. We need to allow the Word of God to shape us and not fight against the truth it contains. The seed doesn't fight the truth; it merely responds. We are not to fight the truth of the Word. We are to submit to it and allow it to produce a harvest in our lives for God.