Why is it that the focus of faith seems to be taken from Matthew 17:20...and stop there?
"You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."
That's where we stop. We "encourage" each other to have faith the size of one of the tinniest seeds on earth and say we can move mountains with it just because that's what Jesus said we should strive for. I believe that Jesus wanted so much MORE for His disciples than the smallest faith. I believe He desired them to have the faith of what that seed turned into...a full blown mustard tree!
Picture a small pearl inside of an oyster. It is beautiful and worth some money. You can pick it out of that oyster and keep it, or sell it for a sum of money. Or you can allow that oyster to continue to mold it and shape it, and make it bigger and even more beautiful and it will be worth more. That is a lot like how our faith is. God wants our faith to be the largest pearl ever known to man. He wants to shape us and grow us and use us to further His Kingdom. A lot of times we get impatient with God's timing and grab that small tiny pearl of our faith and call it good before that pearl is really ready. Unfortunately God is still in the process of molding and shaping our faith. Growing it and perfecting it. The only thing standing in His way of doing that is ourselves.
Think of all the work, pain and discomfort it takes for the oyster to create the pearl from that small irritating granular of sand. Following Jesus is definitely NOT the "easy" or most "comfortable" way of life, as far as this world-view is concerned. It definitely is the best way to live though. The oyster would probably be a lot happier without a big bulge under its tongue, but then you wouldn't have a beautiful and perfect pearl as the end result.
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