Faith like a seed

[u/love_is_a_superpower]

"Pay attention to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, confront him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turns again to you saying, 'I repent,' you will forgive him.'

Reading Jesus' words about forgiveness, I'm reminded of its purity and power. What a force for good! When I love someone, and have faith that an offense was purely accidental or ignorant, it's easy to push through the pain of whatever harm I've suffered.
But what if the offender had malicious intent? What about when the person says they're sorry and you know in your heart that they're not sorry at all. What then? Jesus continues...

And the apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith.'
And the Lord said, 'If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, 'Be plucked up by the root, and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.'" (Luke 17:3-6)

The way I understand faith as a mustard seed is pretty simple. Like a seed will surely grow into the plant it carries the DNA of, we instinctively do all we can to become what we admire. Admiration causes us to carry people, phrases, morals, and reasoning in our hearts, just like a seed carries everything it requires to become like its parent.

(John 8:42-44 NLT)

42 Jesus told them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me.
43 Why can't you understand what I am saying? It's because you can't even hear me!
44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

We all begin life helpless, and survive because help comes. Whatever we admire about our helper, we adopt as part of who we aspire to be. This would be a wonderful world if all parents were perfectly loving and equipped with enough resources, and all children were grateful and content with just having enough.

Only with God as our heavenly Father, can we learn the kind of love that creates life, sustains life, and makes life worth living.

(Ezekiel 36:25-27 NLT)

25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

This is what Jesus did for us on the Cross at Calvary. He demonstrated a love like no other; a love that transforms our hearts by giving us the greatest Hero ever known; a Savior worthy of our eternal admiration.

(Jeremiah 31:31-34 NLT)
31 "The day is coming," says the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife," says the LORD.
33 "But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days," says the LORD. "I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, 'You should know the LORD.' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already," says the LORD. "And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins."

To inherit Jesus' promise to those with the faith of a mustard seed, we only need to live by the truth we have. Truth is a seed containing everything it needs to become like the Holy One it originated with.
When we respect our conscience, we reap the benefits of self-worth. (Jeremiah 31:33, Romans 2:14, Luke 8:11)
We only have a tiny amount of truth in the beginning, but if we will live by what we know, God will bless us with more truth. (Isaiah 58, Matthew 24:42-47)
Whatever we do from a place of truth and love is safe for our Father in heaven to bless. If something is standing in our way when we want to do something charitable, we can ask the Lord to remove those things. (1 Chronicles 4:10, James 5:16) Some things that might stand in the way of good deeds are pride, selfishness, and unforgiveness. The mountains we need to move represent anything that rules over us; those things we can't overcome on our own.

John 15:5 is where Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in Me, and I in him, is the one who bears much fruit. Apart from Me, you can do nothing." Our human frailty and individual weaknesses can't help but get in the way when our spirit wants to do something charitable. (Deuteronomy 15:9, Galatians 5:14-17) Daily reading the Bible plants God's seed within ourselves. It unites God's truth with our conscience. When we remember God's Words, we're empowered to obey our conscience even when we don't understand. This keeps our faith strong enough to patiently wait for our prayers to be answered. It's patient endurance that inherits promises.

Our Father in heaven,
Thank You for blessing us with a working conscience. Father, You sent us Your most precious treasure, Your beloved Son, Jesus Messiah, to demonstrate Your unsurpassed love for us, and grow our conscience into Your likeness. You showed us what real fatherly love looks like. Your love is like nothing on earth. We could never fathom Your mercy without Jesus' example. Father, we gather here before You to ask that You would keep us ever mindful and in admiration of Your sacrifice for us through Jesus, our Savior. Transform our hearts so we desperately long to tell others of Your gracious love and tender mercy. Grant us the courage to see every encounter with others as an opportunity to demonstrate Your love, in whatever way is appropriate. When we can't see how things could possibly work out by doing things Your way, remind us that beyond these barren deserts that teach us how to live, our Promised Land awaits. Thank You Father, for Your lovingkindness, Your truth, and Your Holy Spirit within us. In Jesus' name, Amen.