2017 Key Verse Testimony (Excerpt)

“He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.’”
-Matthew 13:31-32
      2016 was definitely a year full of changes for me. However, I found that I had trouble changing the one thing I wanted to change: myself. I was still lazy in my daily bread, choosing to watch TV or play videogames rather than read the Bible and pray. As 2017 approached, I realized that I even had trouble remembering my key verse for 2016. I was really disappointed in myself. Even though God has blessed me in so many ways in 2016, I had failed to deepen my relationship with Him.
     In the last months of 2016, one truth has been pressing on my heart. This truth is that faith is something you have to grow. I had often thought of faith as something that you either had or you didn’t. However, I realized that faith is something that you have to plant, water, and grow. I decided that I wanted to pick a key verse that reflects this truth, so I chose Matthew 13:31-32: “He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.’” Jesus tells His disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a seed. A seed is something that starts off very small and needs time to grow. A seed does not become a tree in one day. In the same way, my faith is not something that will grow in one day. The same is true for joy, peace, hope and love. These are all characteristics of the Kingdom of God. Another truth based on the idea of a seed is that you have to take care of the seed in order for it to grow. A farmer goes out to take care of his crops every day. Even though it might appear that nothing is growing, the farmer knows that if he works every day, the seeds will eventually become fruit. The key is consistency. The farmer is not concerned about his crops not bearing fruit; he is concerned about what he needs to do today for his crops. I want to take the same attitude for 2017. I don’t want to worry about my faith not producing fruit; I want to worry about what I can do for my faith today. Even though what I do today for my faith can seem so small, I am encouraged by this one line in Matthew 13:32- “yet when it grows”. Faith that grows slowly is better than faith that doesn’t grow at all. My goal for 2017 is to focus on growing my faith one day at a time, and to see what fruit grows as a result.
-Smart