I’ve always wondered what Jesus meant when He said, “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.” 1 I’ve never heard of mountains moving—and I’ve certainly never moved a mountain—so why did He choose that analogy?
Over time, I’ve come to realize that while my faith hasn’t moved any literal mountains, even a little bit of faith—faith the size of a tiny mustard seed—can overcome mountainous obstacles in our lives.
The difficulty with this is that the outcome is often not as obvious as a mountain moving and falling into the sea. Christian author Kent Crockett put it this way: “Faith is the ability to look past adverse circumstances and see God’s hand at work.” That ability can be hard to gauge, and that’s why we often wonder if our faith is real.
In Hebrews 11, Paul lists characters from the Old Testament who lived their entire lives in faith, but never got to see the final fulfillment of what they were hoping for—the kingdom of God on earth. Yet their faith was not wasted: among other things along the way, “these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength.” 2
I hope the articles and personal accounts in this issue of Activated will be a blessing to you in deepening your relationship with God, the Author and Finisher of our faith. 3