Tiny, mustard-seed-size faith can move mountains. Here is Jesus’ vivid word picture, proverbial for overcoming great challenges. Jesus did not say, “You need giant faith!” No, tiny faith will do. Jesus’ followers need true faith, rightly rooted with deep, personal trust that heartily expects God to work! For all our endeavors—big and small—he calls us to develop more robust, substantive faith. As Jesus’ disciples today, we need growing, flourishing faith in the face of our everyday opportunities and obstacles. 

Several years ago, I was fully engaged in a fresh entrepreneurial project. We had raised substantial funds, assembled a talented team, and jumped out of the gate with great gusto. Soon, all the typical stressors started hitting us, and I wondered, “Is our little bit of faith, our big expressions of love, and our passion for the kingdom mission making any real difference? Really?” 

I bet you’ve wondered too. Maybe it was about your quick phone call or text to check in with a client. Or that little bit of extra financial investment. Or even those small but steady steps of faithful care for a coworker. All of these things were just little holy risks in response to God’s whispers and nudges toward a new opportunity.

Jesus’ View on Little Faith

Christ actually saw “little faith” from two vantage points. In Luke 12:28 (ESV), Jesus aimed to squash anxiety: “But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!” 

From one point of view, Jesus was saying, “Quit your little heart habits of jumbled, tangled worry. Instead, deeply trust our Father’s great provision!” 

But ponder Christ’s other point of view. In Jesus’ teaching, “little faith” is not simply admonished and discouraged. When leveraged to the positive, Christ encourages little faith. Seed-size faith can work wonders in his heavenly kingdom. 

In Matthew 17 (ESV), the disciples were puzzled over their inability to cast out a demon. They asked Jesus why. In verse 20, Jesus responded: “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

We should all take heart. If such a faith conundrum was true for the original apprentices of Jesus, it should not surprise us when we experience our own faith struggles.

Jesus spoke of their “little faith,” but his issue was not really their quantity of faith. Instead, the issue was lack of quality. They had feeble faith; it was superficial, lacking solid substance. We know quality of faith was Jesus’ focus, because here in the same breath, he praises just a small quantity, like a mustard seed. 

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