AMAZING GROWTH

MUSINGS - October 05 Friday 2018

AMAZING GROWTH

Mark 4:30-34
Jesus asked, "How can we show what the kingdom of God is like? To what can we compare it? It's like a mustard seed planted in the ground. The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds on earth. However, when planted, it comes up and becomes taller than all the garden plants. It grows such large branches that birds can nest in its shade." Jesus spoke God's word to them using many illustrations like these. In this way people could understand what he taught. He did not speak to them without using an illustration. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.

Cottonwood trees* are abunant near our summer home in Iowa. I've often thought that, if they had grown in the Holy Land, how much better they would have been in place of the mustard plant.

But, of course, the story isn't about mustard seeds. It is about the kingdom of God. Jesus asks the question as to himself wondering how he who has seen the beginning, the present, and the end** is going to explain the concept of how the kingdom of God will grow on the Earth. He gives them the example of one of the smallest seeds (the original twelve followers) can grow into something huge (an estimated 300,000,000 Christians in the world today. This is the kingdom today. What can it still become in a world of over 7 billion people? The answer is it's up to us, you and me, to keep planting, watering, and nourishing the every growing kingdom of God

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*Cottonwood trees are the fastest growing trees in North America. A young tree can add 6 feet or more in height each year. This rapid growth leads to weak wood that is easily damaged. The trees can grow to well over 100 feet tall, with eastern species sometimes reaching 190 feet. And it takes nearly 400,000 seeds to make a pound and only 280,000 musterd seeds to a pound.

** Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And Revelation of John 22:12-13 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

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