Growth

Growth

In Matthew Chapter 13, Jesus presents 9 parables that inform about how we are to live holy lives. Jesus tells a large crowd these parables from a boat near Capernaum and the shore of the Sea of Galilee. In Matthew 13:33 it is written,

“He spoke another parable to them: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.’”

This is also found in Luke 13:20-21 and it illustrates that the kingdom of God will multiply and grow quietly, slowly spreading its influence.

Pastor Fred Zaspel once wrote, “The early church unanimously understood Jesus’ teaching as an addition to Moses’ law, an advance whose requirements were significantly higher. The common idea was that Christ’s teaching completed the law of Moses – it finished what was begun at Sinai. In this sense there is no destruction or even contradiction of Moses but a growth as from seed to tree.”

Matthew 13 outlines the magnificent growth of Jesus’ ministry through the parables he spoke. Rest assured that the kingdom of heaven will continue to grow as more and more believers come to Christ and understand his Word. 

The Reign of God is a hymn written by Delores Dufner and it echoes Matthew 13:33 about how leavened flour increases in size over time. Dufner wrote in Stanza 4, “Though hidden now, the reign of God may, yet unnoticed, grow; from deep within it rises up, like yeast in swelling dough.”

With God, growth is inevitable.

Let us pray: Abba, instill in our hearts your Word and enable the growth in us to start and continue all our days until we are at home with you in the kingdom of heaven.