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The next parable Jesus tells is one of the most debated in Scripture. Unlike some of the other parables, Jesus never explains this one. That means faithful Bible scholars have reached different conclusions.

Let’s read it for ourselves.

Matthew 13:31-32, “He put another parable before them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

So…what do you think?

Is this story about the beautiful growth of God’s Kingdom?
Or is it a warning that evil can quietly grow alongside it?

So what do we do when Scripture isn’t immediately clear? We go to Jesus. Because Jesus didn’t just tell the truth… He IS the Truth. John 14:6 says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” So I asked Him, “Jesus, what do you want me to see here?”

Here’s what I believe the Lord showed me. This parable has two sides. Like a coin. If I flip a coin and it lands on heads, does that make tails false? Of course not. Both are always there. I believe this parable contains both a beautiful promise…and a loving warning.

So the heads side of this parable is a story of growth. The mustard seed is known as a tiny seed. This isn’t the only time Jesus talks about the mustard seed. There’s a much more familiar scripture many of us remember. Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 17:20, “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.'”

Throughout Scripture, the mustard seed represents something tiny that carries incredible potential. God specializes in starting with what everyone else overlooks.

A tiny seed.
A shepherd boy.
A teenage girl.
Twelve ordinary fishermen.
Five loaves and two fish.

Heaven has never been impressed by size. Heaven has always been impressed by surrender. The mustard seed is something that is so small and seemingly insignificant, but within it is potential for big things. Even the tiniest grain of faith can move mountains. So, this tiny grain of the mustard seed can be planted in a garden and become larger than all the other plants in the garden and grow to be a tree where birds make their nests.

What begins so small, with God, can grow to become greater than you can possibly imagine. Zechariah 4:10, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.”

We all love the idea of doing something BIG for God. We dream about changing lives. Writing books. Starting ministries. Launching businesses. But most of us don’t love the tiny assignments that produce those things.

We want the tree. God hands us a seed.

“God, send me across the world as a missionary…” …but I don’t want to pray with my neighbor. “Lord, use me in powerful ways…” …but I don’t want to serve where nobody notices. We want significance. God offers faithfulness.

Most of us woke up today holding seeds from God. The problem is… Seeds don’t look impressive. They don’t look like the future God sees. And because we can’t see the tree… we underestimate the seed. We’re not willing to start small. We want big full blown trees, not tiny seeds.

People ask me all the time how to build their own mentoring, or a podcast, or retreats. They usually don’t like my answer. I tell them…

Start with the seed.
Do it when you’re unsure.
Do it when you’re uncomfortable.
Do it when nobody applauds.
Do it when almost nobody shows up.
Do it for free.
Keep planting.
Keep watering.
Keep showing up.

But we want to be great from day 1. We want immediate success. We want a full blown tree by day 2 please. But Jesus says, “from this tiny seed, something big can grow.” GROWTH TAKES TIME.

We all want overnight success. God almost always chooses faithful consistency. Trees don’t explode into existence. They grow. Slowly. Quietly. One ordinary day at a time.

There’s one way you grow something great … be willing to be bad at it long enough to get good!

I remember my first ever mentoring session in 2012. I was cutting edge hosting live videos before live videos were a thing outside of the nightly news. Facebook live didn’t exist. There was no zoom. I had a full blown studio set up in our master bedroom, special lights and cameras and programs. That first live mentoring session I had like 12 people watching and I was a nervous wreck. I taught my lesson, then I thought I was done. But there was one problem – we had practiced how to start the live broadcast, however we had failed to practice ending the broadcast. We literally didn’t know how to stop recording.

My husband signaled to me to continue as he frantically searched for a way to stop recording. By this time I had said absolutely everything I knew to say and I had nothing left. So you know what I did … I started dancing. Yip, just me in front of a live camera dancing. Y’all, I cannot dance. It was so awkward. Finally in desperation my husband just unplugs the entire thing from the wall and cuts power.

We both looked at eachother and said, “Whew, now that was a mess! I never want to do that again.” Then the next week, we did it again. And again, and again. Over 700 weekly mentoring sessions later, we’re still just showing up and doing it again.

Looking back now, that wasn’t embarrassing. That was a seed. Seeds are awkward. Seeds are unimpressive. Seeds are hidden underground where nobody celebrates them.

But without the seed… there is never a tree. It was a small seed and a messy process, but with God, it has grown into more than we could have ever imagined.

Again, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

This is how God has always worked. He works through small beginnings. He works through ordinary obedience. He works through people who are simply willing to keep planting. Never underestimate what God can do with one tiny act of faith repeated over and over again.

He works in small beginnings. He works in unseen potential.

Don’t let unseen potential become unmet potential because you’re not willing to put in the ground work.

But every coin has another side. The same principle is true of evil.

Sin rarely shows up looking dangerous. It usually arrives looking small. Harmless. Easy to justify.

One compromise.
One lie.
One bitter thought.
One secret.
One click.
One missed opportunity to forgive.

They’re just tiny seeds…

Until they aren’t.

Left unattended, what began as something small quietly grows in the dark until it takes over far more of your life than you ever intended.

Be careful what you’re planting. Tiny seeds always become something bigger.

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