Thanksgiving for the Kingdom of God
God’s Kingdom Keeps Growing – Part I

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:18-30

Key Verse: Luke 13:18
Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it?”

Today’s Scripture Reading is about the Kingdom of God.

We have studied that Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is not a place you can go to or see with your physical eyes. This being the case, Jesus used parables to illustrate what the Kingdom of God is like, as our Key Verse makes clear.

In today’s Scripture Reading, the first illustration Jesus uses is about a mustard seed. Mustard seeds are about two millimeters in diameter, a very small seed in the plant world. Jesus reminds His listeners that though mustard seeds are extremely small, when planted they become so large that birds can nest in them.

What can we learn from this illustration? First, God’s Kingdom is not stagnant, but rather a living, growing body of believers. Second, people in the Kingdom of God grow stronger each day.

Every believer starts as a neophyte when they first accept Christ. However, every believer needs to grow into a mature Christ-follower, strong and able to shine bright in a dark world.

Remember that the Kingdom of God lives in us and enables us to grow strong in the Lord. Just like the mustard seed, growth is not complete overnight; believers must see their life in Christ as a marathon rather than a sprint. God uses our failures, as well as our successes, to grow us into the people He wants us to be.

Finally, we can learn from the mustard seed illustration that the believer is responsible for their own growth in the Lord. When someone plants a mustard seed, it grows because that is the very nature of a seed.

So it is for every believer. The ability to grow is built into the salvation process. There is no such thing as someone being saved but not having the ability to grow strong.

As the mustard seed must get into dirt to grow, so we must get into God’s Word by reading and surrounding ourselves with other believers.

The devil knows that every true believer has God’s Spirit in them which is far stronger than the evil one. It is our job, as believers, to claim God’s power and resist the evil one. When we resist the devil, he will flee from us! (James 4:7).

God wants us to grow strong so He works in all believers giving us the desire to grow and the power to accomplish all His purposes in us (Philippians 2:13). In other words, God does all the “heavy lifting” when it comes to our growth and strength!

Father, I praise You for what You do for me. Help me to do my part in becoming strong and mature. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.