31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 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.”
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”[
Dear God, I think this story needs an example. What does this look like in real life? What does it mean?
One of my favorite Bible stories is of Jesus sitting in the synagogue watching the people come in. He sees different ones dropping money in the offering, but the one he singles our to his disciples is the poor widow who gave sacrificially. The thing I find remarkable about this story is that this widow left the synagogue that day never realizing that Jesus had used her as an example to his disciples, that it would be recorded by one of them, and that I would be reading the story nearly two thousand years later. In fact, that day, when she got back to her home, she was as poor as when she started and there is zero evidence that her lot in life ever changed.
This widow is a mustard seed. She is yeast. Unbeknownst to her, she is a living example of sacrificial giving and being willing to lay her needs aside because of her worship of you. She has been used in countless sermons and Bible studies. The story has been told on television shows and in movies. And she never knew.
Father, I think that sometimes I try to see what my seed and yeast are turning into, but, once again, you have me on a need-to-know basis, and I don’t need to know. You are calling me to be like this widow—faithfully ignorant of the impact my life is having. So help me to turn loose of my need to be noticed, appreciated, and admired. Help me to turn loose of my need to leave a legacy and simply find the joy and peace that comes from faithful service and sacrifice to you.
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