The Kingdom of God starts small.....like a seed.
I have this idea that has been developing from hearing the parables about the mustard seed, the seed planted in the ground in Matthew 13, and also about yeast and dough.
There are two different veins/versions I hear in that passage.
One is that the seed is the Truth of the Kingdom, being planted in me, it starts off as a small seed, but then when time and the secret hidden things happen, it becomes a large Tree in which shade is given the birds, it is a refuge, a mystery, and something that was utterly hidden from people...that the smallest most insignificant things could become the things that are the greatest. This follows the principle of the Kingdom that the small things will shame the wise, the things that are meek will inherit the earth, that the Lord exalts the humble, but brings low the prideful.
Second, the seed of the Kingdom (truths) are like yeast in dough, a little bit of yeast is needed, to work through the dough, and with the right amount of heat, the dough rises to become the bread. Without the yeast, it stays flat and does not become the bread it was meant to become. This can also be compared to being brought to maturity and completeness. A little bit of truth will work throughout all my parts if I allow myself to let it process in me and let it work in me. TIME makes the bread rise...time and the Word, the word is the yeast. I am the dough. I am being made into bread that others can eat and get the truths.
Also, you can see it this way: I am the Mustard seed that is made into the largest of garden plants so that the birds can perch in my shade. The kingdom is the truth which is like the water, sun, and soil that I am in...and I am the seed, but I am the tree growing that brings the reality of the Kingdom to others by what it's done in me, to transform me from the small dead seed into something truly glorious.
David, Joseph, Moses, Jacob, etc were a lot like this, started off small and then because of what God did in them were like the Mustard tree that was large and able to protect, give refuge, and give comfort to the birds and those around it.
The greatest things seem to always happen over time. When Looking back, you see the process was worth it, but it takes time to unfold...like Joseph becoming ruler of Egypt after he had a dream that he would rule his brothers.
The small things shame the wise and confound them.
Man looks at the outside, but God sees the heart. If I allow the word to shape my life and give the Lord time to do it, I will become like the tree in the garden that grew to great stature and was able to give to others out of the shade, protection, and refuge that was built into it. Like the Giving Tree...fruit and life for others.
The Kingdom is like a small unsuspecting seed, but God knows the inside make up of that seed and he sees the seed as it will be. He calls the things that are not as if they were. A seed is dead and yet when planted, it gives life. this is a profound mystery, that to give life, a seed must first die.
WOW. The kingdom is about dying first, then life happening after we surrender, then the seed can grow in the soil, being watered by God and coming up into the things that he has for us. He causes us to grow, to be strengthened through the wind and weather and things that would only make us stronger so that when we are big, there would be no weakness that would cause us to fall. This is how we grow...we grow slowly, but with persistence, with patience, knowing that what God works in us is eternal and will not be taken or removed from us, this is eternal glory.
1 John 3:1-33
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The Kingdom of God must be valuable and treasured in order to see the harvest and the crop of righteousness. If you didnt' value the small seed, you will never see the big tree, if you do not value the small amount of yeast and the potency of what it can do, you will have flat bread. If you do not see the potential in the seed, you will never have the fruit, the harvest, the big things that come out of seeing into the invisible realm. The seed is the Kingdom, it is about faith. without faith, you will not see the result. Jesus is saying that the Kingdom is great if you see it with faith when it is just a small seed in your life, meaning that the Lord is doing great things with the smallest most insignificant situations, people, etc. When we treasure the potential that the seed brings, then we will see the Kingdom take place in our lives and in others. Without eyes to see the seeds as great things, we will never plant them, and then we will miss out on the Kingdom of God. God uses the small things to confound the wise. He uses the day of small things to bring great things. Things start small in the Kingdom, but they end Big, things in the world have to start big, but they end small. I have to change the way I think. Remember, that the hidden things will be revealed and brought out on display. t he secret things and hidden things and things that are unseen are being brought out with glory and honor. Jesus is bringing out his hidden ones to be the Oak trees of Righteousness, the slow growing trees that are glorious, like Cedars of Lebanon, like the Palm trees in Psalm 92, like the mustard trees, like the redwoods. TIME AND FAITH MAKE THE SEED GROW.
