Friday, February 17, 2012
Little
is Much – When God is in it
What a lesson for us. We are part of a growing and glorious kingdom that will never pass away! Our little seed of contribution is huge because God is in it. Keep sharing, serving, giving, and working in God’s kingdom.
We learn in verse 34 that Jesus explained everything to his own disciples. Here is Oswald Chambers devotional thought on that verse.
30 Again he said, “What shall we say
the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31
It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32
Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with
such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much
as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without
using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained
everything.
Another
parable from Jesus explaining to us what the kingdom of God is like. It can be compared to a mustard seed, which
has a small beginning and a big ending. Christianity started humbly. A baby,
born in a feeding trough, in a cave in Bethlehem. But from that small and
humble beginning the world was changed. This is the way the kingdom of God
works. The infinitely small becomes infinitely great. The dramatic rises out of
the not so dramatic.
Within
forty years of Christ’s death the Gospel had reached all the great cultural
centers of the Roman World and some out of the way places as well. The world
was becoming saturated with the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. It
started with One. And then twelve. Back to eleven. Grew to one hundred and
twenty in the upper room. At the initial public offering, three thousand joined
up. After that this Good News group went viral!
Little is much when God is in it. Ask David with five stones. Ask Gideon
and his band of three hundred men. Ask Elijah who face four hundred and fifty
prophets. All through Scripture it doesn’t take a big bunch for God’s work to
get accomplished – just a willing few.What a lesson for us. We are part of a growing and glorious kingdom that will never pass away! Our little seed of contribution is huge because God is in it. Keep sharing, serving, giving, and working in God’s kingdom.
We learn in verse 34 that Jesus explained everything to his own disciples. Here is Oswald Chambers devotional thought on that verse.
Have You Ever Been Alone With God?
"When they were
alone, He expounded all things to His disciples."Mark 4:34
Our Solitude with Him. Jesus does not take
us alone and expound things to us all the time; He expounds things to us as we
can understand them. Other lives are parables. God is making us spell out our
own souls. It is slow work, so slow that it takes God all time and eternity to
make a man and woman after His own purpose. The only way we can be of use to
God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own
characters. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We do not
know envy when we see it, or laziness, or pride. Jesus reveals to us all that
this body has been harboring before His grace began to work. How many of us
have learned to look in with courage?
We have to get rid of
the idea that we understand ourselves, it is the last conceit to go. The only
One Who understands us is God. The greatest curse in spiritual life is conceit.
If we have ever had a glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we shall
never say - "Oh, I am so unworthy," because we shall know we are,
beyond the possibility of stating it. As long as we are not quite sure that we
are unworthy, God will keep narrowing us in until He gets us alone. Wherever
there is any element of pride or of conceit, Jesus cannot expound a thing. He
will take us through the disappointment of a wounded pride of intellect,
through disappointment of heart. He will reveal inordinate affection - things
over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. We listen to many
things in classes, but they are not an exposition to us yet. They will be when
God gets us alone over them.
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While reading this, a topic that has always fascinated me, (namely outer space, the solar system, the stars, the galaxies, the vastness & majesty of it all) popped into my head. Then it hit me, its no different than what is referred to above. Mustard Seed = 1 microsecond before the "Big Bang". Mustard plant = The Universe as we know it today. Thought provoking.
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