Changed and growing

DEVOTION

                                                                     THE GOSPEL OF LUKE       

CHANGED AND GROWING

Luke 13:18-21

18 Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches."  20 Again he asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." 

NIV

Jesus makes two comparisons to the kingdom of God, both with things the people were very familiar with. Although we could see this grain of mustard seed as the very small beginning of Christianity in the world, or the gospel message, and how large it would become, with many souls finding a perch within its grace, there is another message here also. It is the same message with the yeast and its effects on the dough. We could see that as the gospel and how it is going to effect the whole world. Both of those are a prophetic statement of our Lord about the kingdom of God. But we need to also see how that applies to each one of us. From the smallest of information about the gospel message of the grace of God we decide to follow Jesus. Then it begins to grow in us and grow and grow becoming so large a part of our lives others cannot miss the largeness of Jesus in us and they fine rest in the message of our lives, they find Jesus and the grace of God begins to grow in them as it does in us. This is the same with the yeast. We were, before Jesus, unleavened without anything to change our condition. But once the yeast, the grace of God, was introduced into our lives, it spread throughout our whole being until it consumed ever portion of us. This yeast will not stop short of having its effect on the dough until all the dough is now leavened. The gospel will also not stop short until it has its effect on our entire being. It will change us completely. There cannot be any part of us that is not changed. It is impossible for the leaven to be contained and it is impossible to contain the gospel from changing us. But the truth is as this woman mixed the yeast into the flour we have to mix the gospel into our lives. Once we have mixed it in, it will work its way completely through. So we have been planted in the garden, the kingdom of God, and as small as we are when we begin to grow, we become a tree, a larger than life tree, visible for all to see and find refuge in the message of our life, Jesus because he has changed us completely from without life to having eternal life.