A prayer: May we have eyes to see and ears to hear. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Today’s message at Inspire Church stayed with me long after the service ended. It was one of those sermons that doesn’t just teach — it reveals. It opens something. It unsettles something. It plants something.
And fittingly, it all centered around a seed.
🌱 “What is the kingdom of God like?”
Jesus asked this question in Luke 13, and His answer was simple, almost shockingly so:
“It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” — Luke 13:18–19
A mustard seed. Not a cedar. Not a towering, majestic tree like the ones described throughout Scripture — the cedars of Lebanon, the great trees of Assyria, the mighty tree in Daniel whose branches sheltered the nations.
Those trees were symbols of power, empire, dominance, and human greatness.
But Jesus… Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a bush. A wild, invasive, ordinary little shrub — one that, according to Rabbinical law, wasn’t even supposed to be planted in a garden.
And that’s where the message hit me.
🌿 The scandal of the seed
If the parable begins with a planting that violates the rules, then the entire story is scandalous from the start. The seed is unclean. The act is unclean. The growth is unclean.
And yet… Jesus calls that the kingdom of God.
It’s almost as if He’s saying:
“What you call unclean, I call holy. What you dismiss, I choose. What you overlook, I transform.”
Just like the Good Samaritan — the “wrong” hero in the “wrong” story — Jesus keeps flipping our expectations upside down.
🌾 God’s kingdom begins in the places we’d rather hide
This was the part that pierced me today:
The greatest works of God are not done on grand stages. They are done in the smallest, messiest, most unclean places of our hearts.
The places we don’t talk about. The habits we struggle to break. The thoughts we wish we didn’t have. The patterns we keep repeating. The wounds we keep carrying.
Those are the gardens where God plants His mustard seeds.
Not the polished places. Not the places we’ve already cleaned up. But the places we’d rather no one see.
And somehow — mysteriously, quietly, scandalously — that’s where His kingdom grows.
🌤️ The miracle no one sees
The sermon reminded me that God’s deepest work often happens where no one is watching:
- in the moment we choose truth over convenience
- in the moment we resist overindulgence
- in the moment we refuse to lie to ourselves
- in the moment we soften instead of harden
- in the moment we ask for help
- in the moment we surrender
These are mustard‑seed moments. Small. Hidden. Unimpressive.
And yet they grow into something that gives shelter, shade, and refuge — not just for us, but for others.
🕊️ Finding refuge in His branches
The image of the birds resting in the branches stayed with me. Even though the mustard plant isn’t majestic, it becomes a place of refuge.
That’s what God offers us. Refuge. Shade. Strength. A place to rest our weary hearts.
If we allow Him to plant something new in us — if we let Him change our hearts, our mindsets, our behaviors — we begin to experience that refuge for ourselves.
And then, without even realizing it, we become branches where others can rest too.
🍃 A kingdom that grows in unexpected places
Today’s message reminded me that God’s kingdom doesn’t look like human kingdoms. It doesn’t start with power or perfection. It starts with a seed — small, humble, and planted in the very places we think are unworthy.
Maybe that’s the point.
Maybe the kingdom of God grows best in the soil of our honesty. Maybe transformation begins where we stop pretending. Maybe holiness starts in the places we’ve labeled “too messy.”
And maybe — just maybe — the scandalous seed is grace itself.
💬 What small, unexpected place in your life has God been working in lately — a place you didn’t expect Him to use, but now you can see something beginning to grow?
#EchoesOfTheWillow #EyesToSeeEarsToHear #FaithJourney #SpiritualGrowth #KingdomOfGod #InspireChurch #ParablesWeek2 #MustardSeedFaith #SmallBeginnings #HeartWork #InnerHealing #GodAtWork #GraceInTheSmallThings
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