Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Okie dokie. Here we are again. We're back for another fun filled week of diving into the parables of Jesus. Welcome back. This is the Grace and Grit mindset podcast and I'm Shanna Williams. I'm so glad that you decided to come back and I love talking about the parables of Jesus and I decided to keep things simple, simple again in honor of these parables. So I have no fancy frills with my podcast right now. There's no intro music, there's no cool stuff in the background and you know, I'm just like have a little tiny microphone plugged into my phone and I'm just keeping things really simple.
[00:00:45] But the quality is still pretty good. So hopefully you're not let going. I can't take this. Sometimes I think we just need like a, I don't know, like a reality check about what really matters.
[00:00:57] And sometimes the most simple things are the best things.
[00:01:03] And I remember this one time going to this church, it was a huge church and this guy, he's, he's kind of famous, I can't even remember his name now, but he just sat on the piano and I'm talking about, this is a huge church and he sat on the piano, sat at the piano, he just started playing piano and leading worship.
[00:01:23] And it was so refreshing because there was no huge band up there, there was no frills, nothing, you know, Nothing on the PowerPoint thing, whatever they call it now with all the words and everything.
[00:01:34] And it was just like you, you just, you didn't care. You were just caught up in this moment of worship and the simplicity of just worshiping the Lord and connecting with him. And I think sometimes we just need simplicity. And that's what I love about these parables. And I think it's cool that even the simplicity of the podcast, these few weeks of the, of the parables is even just a reminder of, hey, we don't need fancy stuff in the, in this time of this era of AI and everything is, you know, lights and bells and whistles and everything is getting more complex.
[00:02:17] Maybe we should just go outside and take a walk and live in nature and make things simple the way that God created them.
[00:02:25] So I'm glad that you're here and hopefully what I just said resonates with you a little bit.
[00:02:31] I'm grateful for tech, for technology, don't get me wrong, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to make this podcast. But anyway, I'm take a deep breath here and we're just going to jump into a Little bit of this week's parable. And I want to talk about the mustard seed.
[00:02:48] And there's a reason that I want to talk about this particular one, because every week I'm just like, okay, Lord, which one is. Is my heart gravitating towards?
[00:03:00] And, you know, last week we kind of built the whole foundation of why are we talking about the parables at all?
[00:03:06] And I told you, Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 13 why he's speaking in parables. And he's saying, you know, he's concealing them for a reason. But he's talking about why he's teaching this way. And he's saying, hey, for people who have an open heart, they're going to understand these parables. But for people whose hearts are not open, they're not going to understand these parables.
[00:03:32] So that's what this is for. So it's simple, but yet it's profound.
[00:03:38] Right? And so if you're here today and you're like, okay, why are we going to talk about mustard seed faith? I've heard this a bazillion times. Right?
[00:03:48] And I have, too. But I'm going to be honest with you guys. This is like a fully transparent episode.
[00:03:54] I was a little bit devastated. I released my second book, technically it's my third, but one of them was a collaborative devotional, so I usually don't include it because I collaborated with some other people.
[00:04:08] I released my second book called Choosing Better, about, I don't know, a week and a half ago. And I don't know, I guess I was expecting huge numbers, but when you, when you log into Amazon KDP and you, you see that you sold like a handful of books and you're like, it's a little bit of a stab in your heart. And I'm not saying that because I want a bunch of people to jump on off of here and go buy my book. Yeah, I mean, yeah, if you feel led to go. But I'm not saying that because I want people to feel sorry for me, but it was a bit of a stab in my heart. Especially when I feel like people who are my friends don't even feel compelled to go buy my book.
[00:04:47] Especially when I look and see that I've got 2,000 people following my Facebook page, and then I have 4,000 friends on my Facebook personal page, and then I have 2,000 people on my YouTube page, and then I have 200 something people on my email list and, and like five people bought my book. It's, it's, it's, it's like a stab in your heart and it feels so.
[00:05:14] I can't. There's not even words, y'. All. And it hurts. It just hurts really bad. And it's hard not to get caught up in your feelings. And. And you're like. And the enemy jumps on that and he's like, okay, exactly, you know, why. Exactly why are you doing this? It's the same thing over and over. It's the same junk that you always deal with. And so it's literally what I wrote about in Choosing Better. I had to decide, was I going to circle the mountain again of negativity? Was I going to circle the mountain again of, you know, self condemnation and, and just going back into not trusting God and, and just living in this place of just self loathing and just hating myself and feeling like a failure because it really makes you feel bad about yourself. And it's so crazy because I just all of a sudden felt like maybe this is a mustard seed thing.
[00:06:15] And I just felt the Holy Spirit encouraged me.
[00:06:19] And then there was a couple days later, I was talking to my daughter and she encouraged me and I think she kind of posted something about my book. And then a couple days later I had sold quite a few more, way more books. So that was encouraging to me. And you know, I just started thinking maybe I'm just in front of the wrong people, you know, but it's really all about mustard seed faith. Not just mustard seed faith, but.
[00:06:44] Because Jesus does talk about mustard seed faith in another area, but in Matthew 13, he's actually talking about the kingdom of heaven like a mustard seed.
[00:06:57] So what does that mean?
[00:06:59] Because I have some interesting facts about mustard seeds that I didn't really know. I knew some of this stuff because I've heard it. If you've been in church any amount of time, especially like me, if you've been there like your whole life, you've heard a lot of information about mustard seeds and that's cool, but when you start digging into it even a little bit more, it's even more fascinating.
[00:07:19] So here's the thing. I think a lot of us are waiting, and this was me. We're waiting on something bigger and we're not realizing God already started it. But it just doesn't look like what we expected.
[00:07:33] Does it? Does it ever look like what we expected? And that's why I think my heart was so hurt.
[00:07:40] Because God started something in my heart when I wrote Choosing Better actually started years ago when I finally just wrote the book, but he started it decades ago. And I'm thinking, oh, here it is. Here's the finished product.
[00:07:54] I write it down. I think people are going to buy it immediately, and they don't.
[00:07:58] And so it kind of hurts because you think, oh, here, here it is. It's done, it's over.
[00:08:03] But it's still not. It's still growing. It's still growing. It's still in. You know, it's a seed. It's still growing. Yes, it's planted in the ground, but it's going to take a little while for it to grow. Not forever, but it's going to take a little while for it to grow. So that can be very discouraging to you. And I know that you might be feeling that, too. You're not seeing it. You may look at where you are right now and feel like, this is so small. I was expecting something bigger than this.
[00:08:30] You know, maybe you're in a situation where you felt like God told you to start a Bible study. Maybe you. You felt like, I'm going to start a Bible study. I feel like God's telling me to do it. I'm going to ask some people. And you had your.
[00:08:44] I mean, because if you're anything like me, when I go. When I go all out for something, I go all out.
[00:08:50] My expectations are high.
[00:08:52] I can be very ambitious to my own detriment, and, you know, I can set the standard really high. And then when, you know, I can set it for, okay, I'm gonna set the Bible study expectation. I want to invite 35 women, and I'm expecting 25 to come, and then I might get two. And that's devastating to me. So maybe that's you. Maybe you thought he told you to do it and nobody showed up or one person showed up. And that can hurt you. But I want to tell you, it's. It. It doesn't. It doesn't matter that it looks small to you. It. It's. He still started it. Remember, that is the starting point, not the ending point.
[00:09:35] I have to keep telling myself that right now. I only sold five books the first weekend that I released the book, but that was the start, not the ending point. I'm encouraging myself today, too, so don't feel sorry for me just because I only sold five books my first weekend. That's okay. Good Lord. I just wrote the book in 10 days. I didn't have a lot of time to market it. I don't have a huge team behind me. I don't have a worldwide ministry.
[00:10:01] It's literally just me and The Lord and like my husband and my mom, you know.
[00:10:06] Okay, so let's jump into this. Let's just read a little bit what Jesus said. Okay?
[00:10:13] Matthew 13:31, the parable of the tiny, tiny mustard seed. Then Jesus taught them another parable. Heaven's kingdom can be compared to the tiny mustard seed that a man takes and plants in his field.
[00:10:28] Although the smallest of all the seeds, it eventually grows into the greatest of garden plants, becoming a tree for birds to come and build their nest in its branches.
[00:10:42] All right, so let's get a few facts here about the mustard seed, and what does it actually end up becoming?
[00:10:52] So a little bit culturally about this? Because, you know, the fact that he would have said something about mustard seed would have been like. People would have been like, okay, it was known as one of the smallest seeds. Probably not the smallest seed, but when you're talking about garden plants, it would have been really, really small to his audience, and it represented something tiny and almost insignificant to them. So when he said this, people immediately would have thought, that's basically nothing.
[00:11:23] That's basically nothing. So when he says the mustard seed, the kingdom of heaven can be like a man planting a mustard seed. They're basically saying, okay, that's. That's nothing. The kingdom of heaven is like nothing.
[00:11:36] It's like thin air to them.
[00:11:38] And you got to realize to them, put, you know, and this is something I talked about a few episodes back when I was teaching about context is everything in the Bible. What did this mean to them? At that time? They're thinking, oh, our Messiah is coming to save us. Yay.
[00:11:56] This is huge. They're not thinking, the kingdom of heaven is coming in a small, tiny seed form. Or the kingdom of heaven is like the leaven that permeates the dough. Or the kingdom of heaven starts tiny and grows. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field. You know, like, it's all these metaphors of something being small and growing. They don't want to hear that. They want the kingdom of heaven to be like a king who comes and rescues them.
[00:12:27] A king who comes in on valiantly with all of his huge army of angels and takes over the world and destroys the Roman Empire and all of his enemies and vanquishes everything and just destroys everyone who's ever just tried to destroy them. That's what they wanted, and that's what they thought it was going to be. So this kind of language, they're like, okay, a mustard seed, that's basically nothing. Why would you use that Kind of language that's so disheartening to them.
[00:12:58] And I think in a way, it's disheartening to us for God to say, here's my gift to you. A tiny mustard seed. Yay. Here you go. It's like he gives us this huge box and he's like, here's my gift to you. And you open it and it's this tiny mustard seed.
[00:13:19] And you get to decide, am I going to throw this in the trash or am I going to plant this?
[00:13:26] And I think about my book in this way, because within this tiny mustard seed that God gave me were the years of all the lessons that he taught me.
[00:13:38] And I wish I had my book in here with. With me. I would read you some of the chapters, by the way. I just got a box of my books. Today was so exciting. 15. I ordered about 15 hard copies of my books. And I think there are. There's 12 chapters. So there's 10 or 11. 11 chapters of lessons where I talk about circling different mountains. And some of these mountains are like circling the mountain of anxiety. And I call it our fear, when fear knows your name.
[00:14:14] Or trust, if you have issues with trust, trust over suspicion. Or I talk about comparison, I talk about jealousy, I talk about, gosh, there's so many. And it's like I'm going blank right now. But these were all lessons that.
[00:14:35] That I learned. And they came in the form of seeds, mustard seeds, very small, and they weren't fun.
[00:14:43] And it was like the gifts that I really didn't want, right? But here I am, years later, 30 years later, for some of these that I've walked through this, but they've grown. They've grown into something big. And Jesus says that these. That the kingdom of heaven grows so big that birds, when this. When this plant this mustard seed, which is like the kingdom of heaven, and it grows so big that birds come and build their nest and its branches.
[00:15:17] So that's what God wants to give you. He wants you to understand that his kingdom, when it comes to live through you, it becomes so big inside of you that it can't be contained. So here's some. Some more facts about a mustard seed.
[00:15:38] They can grow up to 6 to 10ft tall. That's. That's pretty tall. So taller than a man, an average man. A man. Average man is what, almost six. Six feet tall? So it could be as tall as a man or up to 10ft tall.
[00:15:53] So. And then obviously large enough for birds to nest in. So it's got quite not Just tall, but also somewhat wide. And the branches must be pretty strong that birds could live in it.
[00:16:09] And so that contrast. The contrast is the point. It's tiny in the beginning, but it becomes surprisingly robust and strong and big is the outcome. So you have this tiny, tiny seed. Think about that. I mean, envision. You have this almost microscopic seed in this surprisingly big tree.
[00:16:36] That's what the kingdom of heaven is like in someone, and that's what he's like in us.
[00:16:43] So don't minimize the fact that God has started something in you that might seem very small, that might seem almost laughable to someone else.
[00:16:54] It's.
[00:16:56] And don't let the enemy ridicule you and make you feel like what God might be doing in you is so small.
[00:17:05] Because even Jesus says, this is the way the kingdom works. This is the way it works.
[00:17:12] So here's another interesting thing about mustard plants.
[00:17:17] Trees, they grow fast and they spread easily.
[00:17:22] So these are not trees. And this is something I did not know. These are not trees that take a long time. Like oak trees, which are beautiful and great. We all love a beautiful oak tree, right? They make great wood. We love to cut them down and use them and stuff. Mustard trees are not like that. Mustard trees grow fast and they spread easily. So that's really cool. And they. They're actually not delicate plants, man. You can actually get rough with those trees.
[00:17:49] And honestly, people didn't want them necessarily in their. Their garden unless they were trying to grow, you know, the mustard tree because they wanted to get mustard from it, right? Because they knew that if they planted mustard in it with something else, it was going to take over that entire garden. It's that pervasive. It takes over whatever it's in.
[00:18:17] It spreads easily.
[00:18:20] It's. It's that kind of a plant, which is interesting. It grows quickly, spreads aggressively, can take over an entire area.
[00:18:28] So it's. It's not just about growth, is the reason that Jesus uses this plant. It's also about expansion.
[00:18:37] Interesting, right, that he didn't use an oak tree, a cedar tree, Right, because those are so beautiful, right? We all love the smell of cedar. If you don't, there's something wrong with you, or maybe you're allergic to it or something. But I love a beautiful tree. You know, he does say, blessed is the man whose delight is in the Lord. Or I can't remember. He's like a tree planted by the living water. That's a beautiful scripture. But Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. Seed.
[00:19:10] She didn't say it was like an oak tree.
[00:19:13] This is really interesting. Y' all. Think. Think about this. This is a parable that he decides to, to use to teach us about the way the kingdom operates.
[00:19:22] So it's not just that this tree is. Or this seed is tiny and grows tall. It's not just that this seed is tiny and grows tall and can. Grows tall, wide enough and big enough and robust enough that the birds can nest in it, but it also grows quickly, it grows aggressively. It can take over an entire area.
[00:19:44] It has such an expansive quality to it, but it also wasn't considered a desirable plant.
[00:19:55] So this is super interesting about the mustard plant.
[00:20:00] They, and I just kind of mentioned this, but they could be seen as invasive, messy, and not something you'd intentionally plant in a garden unless you specifically were like a mustard supplier.
[00:20:13] Like, you're like, okay, I'm going to plant a mustard garden, right? Because they, they took over everything.
[00:20:21] So what is Jesus saying by saying, I'm going to use a mustard seed to illustrate the kingdom of heaven? He's saying, the kingdom doesn't always show up the way we would expect.
[00:20:33] And it may not look impressive or orderly at first.
[00:20:41] That kind of flies in the face of religion. That. That's like, okay, A, B, C, this is how you do it. One plus two plus two equals this, equals that. And then we do this and we do this, and it's all in a pretty nice little cookie cutter way. Jesus is saying, it's not. It's messy.
[00:21:01] It's gonna not always look pretty.
[00:21:05] The kingdom of heaven takes over everything.
[00:21:08] It's fast, it's not always pretty.
[00:21:14] It's expansive.
[00:21:17] And it doesn't look impressively oppressive or orderly at first. It looks like, what in the world is going on here? Something just took over this garden.
[00:21:26] Have you ever noticed that in somebody who's newly saved, like, there's such a huge transition in their life? And, I mean, it's like a complete 180 and like, nobody knows who that person is anymore. And it's beautiful to watch it, but it's messy.
[00:21:44] It's messy. Like, the person is just, you know, their whole world's been upended, right? And that mustard seed was planted and that thing takes over. And it's wonderful to watch it, but it is messy. And it is. It's not orderly and nobody knows what's going on, especially the person whose life's been upended.
[00:22:06] And it's so cool to watch it. But this is the kingdom of heaven at work. What it, what is the deeper layer. Because I think with Jesus, there's always a deeper layer.
[00:22:18] Jesus didn't. He didn't just pick the mustard seed because it was a small seed. He picked something that looked insignificant, that grew unexpectedly, that spread beyond control and didn't fit neat expectations.
[00:22:37] Say that again. Jesus picked something that lit, that looked insignificant, that grew unexpectedly, that spread beyond control. I love that. And didn't fit neat expectations. Isn't that like the Kingdom of Heaven? It cannot be controlled and it does not fit expectations.
[00:22:54] It cannot be confined by religion.
[00:23:00] It. It cannot be controlled. True.
[00:23:03] True Kingdom of heaven cannot be controlled and it doesn't fit in a box.
[00:23:08] I love that. I love that about.
[00:23:11] And I'm going to get this quote wrong. There's a quote, and I'm probably just going to have to look it up while I'm sitting here. I'm just going to look it up real quick because I don't want to get it wrong.
[00:23:25] That is in Narnia, where.
[00:23:39] I want to get it wrong.
[00:23:42] Not a tame lion.
[00:23:45] Yeah. So they're talking about Aslan. Is he. Is he safe or.
[00:23:54] And who, you know, can. Is. Is Aslan safer? Is he a tame lion?
[00:24:00] He says he's wild, you know, not like a tame lion.
[00:24:05] He calls him. I think it's the beaver. He says that he's wild. He calls him a wild lion. He's not a tame lion.
[00:24:13] Nobody is good. That's what it is. He said he's not a tame lion, Lucy. But he is good. And that is like. I love that lion. That line. That line and that lion. I think that is so good because that, to me, it sums him up in such a great way as if you could sum him up. I don't know that you can, of course, but he is not tame, but he is good.
[00:24:38] And I feel like sometimes we need to be reminded of that. That's so much. Not just him, but the kingdom of Heaven. It is kind of wild in that way that, like the mustard seed, it takes over everything. It cannot be contained. But it's a good thing.
[00:24:56] It is a good kind of spreading that when it takes over, it. It's. It. It takes over. But what it does is such a beautiful thing. And, you know, when Jesus goes throughout Samaria and Judea and all the regions, and he's. He's doing good things. He's healing people. The blind are seeing, the deaf ears are being opened, the dead are being raised, all these miracles are happening.
[00:25:24] And he's spreading the gospel wherever he goes. Good things are happening. So he's not a tame lion, but he is good. And the kingdom of heaven is growing, and that's exactly what he wants to do in us. So whatever small thing he started in you, let it grow. Even if it's small, it's okay. It's okay.
[00:25:52] Just let it be what it is, and don't let the enemy downplay that. And don't let him tell you that it's insignificant or it doesn't matter.
[00:26:00] Just know that nothing, really nothing in the kingdom of God starts big. I've even been reading David. I've been. I've been reading the chronological Bible plan in the Bible app.
[00:26:14] And even David's story, you know, he starts so small. He's. He's known. He's a shepherd, right?
[00:26:20] And he spends, what, 14 years running from Saul.
[00:26:25] And even after Saul dies, you would think, okay, here's his moment.
[00:26:32] You would think all of Israel come together and crown him, but they don't.
[00:26:36] There's still war for a while.
[00:26:40] Some of Saul's followers still are. They try to crown Saul's son and make him king. And so there continues to be war between David's followers and Saul's followers. I'm like, is this ever going to be over?
[00:26:58] And it's like that. You can see that constant growing of one kingdom. Kingdom, and the diminishing of the other. And I see that. I see that seed is what I'm trying to say, that that kingdom of heaven seed, that mustard seed, is growing and growing and growing and growing and growing. At some point, finally, it takes over the other kingdom.
[00:27:20] And I think sometimes we forget. We forget that the kingdom of heaven is within us. And sometimes it can feel like whatever it is that is up against us or that is around us, we can feel like the darkness is stronger or whatever God may be doing in and around us just does not feel like it's growing.
[00:27:39] I often feel that way with this podcast or when I am just trying to be obedient in these small things that I do for him. I feel like it's easy. Anybody listening? Is anybody reading the blog? Is anybody buy my book? And, you know, sometimes the stats say they don't.
[00:27:55] I'm not gonna lie. And it hurts. And I just go, okay, Lord, you know what?
[00:28:00] I do it for you. I do it for you. I do it for the. The one person that might someday listen to this and it. And it'd be exactly what they need. So there you go. That is the parable of the mustard seed. I pray that it blessed you this week. And listen, I pray that you have a good rest of your week. Make sure that you subscribe to this podcast on wherever you listened to wherever you listen. Find me on Instagram Shanna Underscore Strange Underscore Williams I believe.
[00:28:33] Follow me on my socials. I'm everywhere. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, Tick tock. I'm also on YouTube and you can find my book on Amazon, Choosing Better Leaving the Mountains. We were meant to. We were never meant to Circle. Yeah, I'll get it out in just a minute. I'll drop some links in the summary notes if you ever want to find that stuff. But I pray that you are blessed this week. And remember, God always starts small. Until next week. I'll see you.
