I have most likely violated some copyright law with the title I’ve chosen this week. This was an advertising slogan used for a hair product designed specifically for men. Although it is still being produced in England, we don’t hear much about it here.
The point of the ad campaign was that it didn’t take much of this produce to keep your hair looking good. This is the theme I want to discuss this week. We are not going to discuss personal grooming, but how we exercise our faith as men.
Over the past several posts, we have been looking at life choices that are important if we are to be consistent in being a godly man. This brings us to a discussion of the eternal benefits of these choices. Jesus gives a list of these blessings in his very first sermon in Matthew 5. In two of those “blessing” statements, Jesus promises the reward will be the Kingdom of Heaven. Many of us have been given images of our eternal home and the promise that Jesus is preparing that place for us. But did you know that we don’t have to wait until we die to have possession of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We are promised that at the moment we receive salvation by faith in Jesus, we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven with all of the privileges and opportunities God has guaranteed. This is made clear by Jesus throughout the teaching he provided during his earthly ministry. On multiple occasions, Jesus gives us pictures of the Kingdom of Heaven. In most of these situations, he goes on to describe situations we face in our daily lives.
His point is that we can best enjoy the benefits of our citizenship in God’s Kingdom when we choose to live as those who have already inherited this honor. Over the next few weeks, we will investigate the words of Jesus to evaluate how effective we are at being heavenly citizens now. This will not be a list of “dos and don’ts” that are necessary to earn favor with God. They are practical guidelines to help us live with more joy and peace until that day we achieve our final reward in eternity.
The first statement to be considered is recorded in Matthew 13:31-32. 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 your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” This is the foundation of everything else Jesus will say on this topic. These seeds are usually about 1 to 2 millimeters (0.039 to 0.079 in.) in diameter. Was Jesus saying we should simply get by on the smallest amount of faith possible. Not at all. His point is the opposite. If God can take this tiny seed and turn it into a large tree, he can take our faith and expand it to do amazing things. The more we offer him, the more he can multiply it and the greater the outcome.
Faith is the ability to have unwavering confidence in God’s ability to do more than we could ever imagine. When we receive Jesus as Savior, our faith is focused on trusting him alone to forgive our sins and make us a new creation. From there, if we allow him to, he makes our faith grow to trust him to do unimaginable things with us and through us. By offering this faith, God’s Kingdom can be multiplied, and our lives can be filled with his joy and peace.