“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.” ~ Jesus Christ
As I’ve said in previous posts, I have recurrent anxiety. It feels like an unmovable mountain of a thing. I’ve done everything right, but I still have flare ups. It’s enough to make me devoid of hope, except for one thing. I have a mustard seed of faith.
Jesus says it only takes a mustard seed of faith to move a mountain. I recently realized that our mountains aren’t hunks of rock as much as unhealthy mindsets. My anxiety is made up of doubt and fear, and when it gets going, I begin to doubt the goodness of God. I forget He is a self-giving, self-sacrificing, always wants the best for me, Father.
Jesus told the story of a Farmer who went out and sowed seeds of faith that transformed hearts from being stoney and hard to tender places where love grows. In the process, the Farmer had to sow seeds in soil that began as hardened pathways, then was full of rocks, then weeds, before becoming soil where faith and love grew bumper crops of good things.
In the tale, the hardened pathway is the heart not yet ready for faith, the rocks represent troubles and persecution, and the weeds are worry and greed. I always thought the parable was about me and ensuring I was good soil. But I read a book by Jason Clark that suggested the parable is about a Good Farmer, “throwing seeds of faith all willy-nilly, and the power of the seed changes the condition of the heart.” That smacks of truth. My heart was a barren wasteland transformed by a loving Farmer who never quits sowing good things into me.
Faith has grown, but there are still weeds. But Jesus said, “Anything my Father didn’t plant will be pulled out by the root.” That means God is pulling weeds of false dependencies, anxiety, and wrong ideas about His nature. He is tenderly and patiently teaching me who He is. His perfect love will cast out my fear. It is a promise (1 John 4:18).
With that knowledge, I take a tiny mustard seed of faith sown into my heart by the Good Farmer and speak to my mountain of fear and doubt. I tell it to be “cast into the sea of forgetfulness (Micah 7:19)”. The mountain trembles: it knows its days are numbered. It may only move an inch today, but my mustard seed has power, and all of Heaven is backing it. The mountain doesn’t stand a chance.
I also know that the same Good Farmer throwing mustard seeds all willy-nilly is chucking them into your heart. Grab hold of one, and start speaking to your mountains of depression, anger, unforgiveness, anxiety, heck, whatever ails ya! Tell your mountains, “I have a mustard seed, and I’m not afraid to use it,” then watch it quake.
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