2003-01-16 - A Small Seed

Mat 17:20 And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. (NASB)

An alarm went off in one of the computers in the data center yesterday. The warning indicated that one of the four cooling fans had stopped working. The components in the system run very hot so there was some concern. A little seven dollar fan had placed a few thousand dollars of data processing hardware in jeopardy.

When we were able to open the chasis we discovered that a sunflower seed was stuck between a blade of the fan and the fan housing. A seed from a one dollar snack bag had stopped a seven dollar fan and interrupted the service of a few thousand dollars of hardware and three System Administrators.

It reminded me of the power Jesus spoke of the power of very small faith. We are told we can move mountains with that small faith. Are we talking about moving literal mountains? Perhaps. But the mountains that prevent people from seeing the love of God for them through our lives are certainly in mind.

Shattering someone's preconceived notions of how a Christian will react to a situation can move mountains. Accepting people where they are can be a real door opener. The first Christians lived in a world that could barely comprehend the resurrection let alone that God had put on human flesh and walked among us. Slavery was a common thing. Women had so few rights as to be nearly slaves in many respects. The principles of Christianity flew in the face of these ideas and chose to displace them not by force, but in the same way water wears a boulder to sand. The same way our small faith demonstrated in our words and actions can move mountains of fear, uncertainty and disbelief.

Grace & Peace,
Mike

jmhoskins@gmail.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org