Moving Mountains

In Matthew, the Bible tells us if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains. While I don’t dispute the validity of the verse, I do think that verse often becomes an excuse for passivity or written off as sensationalized optimism. Here’s the problem with how people look at that verse: we assume that with just a little faith, big things happen in a snap – just like that, the mountain is moved.

Sorry guys, it doesn’t happen like that. First of all, the mustard seed, although tiny starting out, develops into a large, expansive tree. Yes, it may start small, but over time and with lots of patience, it becomes something very substantial. Your faith may start small, but it isn’t meant to stay there. It is meant to grow and mature.

The other misconception is that the “mountain” is moved all at once. Whatever the obstacle is – an addiction, a disability, depression, a difficult relationship, etc – mountains are rarely moved as a mountain. Most often, they are moved one stone at a time.

Having the “faith to move mountains” starts with a decision to move a single stone. With a developing and growing faith, that decision becomes hundreds or thousands of individual decisions to move a single stone. Eventually, the mountain is moved.

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