April 1 | Luke 17:5-10

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DAILY READING

Luke 17:5-10

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REFLECTION

Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed

By Pam Mann

 Luke 17 opens with a few truth gems nestled together. In verse 6, the disciples ask Jesus something which we also want: Increase our faith. Were they expecting Jesus to inject them with a spiritual force? Would they glow like Moses coming down from Mount Sinai? You probably don’t want a faith experience that makes you glow. Maybe you just want more confidence when you pray.

I remember as a pre-teen going to a Christian kids camp. Though I was an adventurous kid, I was very afraid of the dark. (I blame my fantastic imagination for this great fear.) Anyway, as God would have it, I was captivated that week by the teaching of the camp pastor. Our first morning Bible study, the pastor talked about the power of the Spirit of God to move into our hearts and minds to rearrange the furniture. This metaphor struck me profoundly because furniture never got rearranged in my family home. I was all in for rearranging furniture in my heart and mind. What if God could just load up my fear of the dark and cart it right on out of me?

What power would such a major transformation require? Jesus says: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”

All day I thought about God’s Spirit hauling out every bit of fear clinging to my soul. I envisioned jackhammers and drills, with huge chunks of ungodly fear being loaded into

wheelbarrows and hauled off to hell. (Like I said, fantastic imagination.) That night we walked in total blackness on the woods trail to the campfire circle for evening worship. Each camper had a flashlight whose beams were, of course, bouncing everywhere but on the path. Beyond those unruly light beams loomed total darkness. So, what’s it like to walk in the dark without fear?

I admitted to God that I had zero experience in being fearless. I needed help. I needed to learn a new way of thinking about the dark. I wasn’t even sure if I had faith the size of a mustard seed.

I sensed the Lord say this faith thing is His gift, not my pulling myself up to a standard never before known. It’s His gift. And that’s not all! Jesus personally accompanies me. There may be, in fact, very bad things in the dark. But there is within me and around me Christ in whom all things were made. We walk by faith in Jesus, not in fear of the darkness. That night, I experienced something like a mulberry tree being uprooted and thrown in the sea. I was set free.

PRAYER

Thank you, Jesus, that darkness and light are the same to You. Grant us simple faith in You to walk without fear, to walk with You. Amen.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAM MANN

I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.

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