Mustard Seed

Faith as a Mustard Seed

Recently I read this scripture in Matthew 17:20

"...for verily I say unto you, If ye have ^bfaith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this ^cmountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove;"

I was intrigued by the choice of word "as" instead of "the size of."

I think when most people hear this scripture they think of faith the size of a mustard seed. Meaning, if they put forth just a little tiny bit of faith, mountains will move. I believe this can be true, sometimes all it takes is a couple washings in the Jordan River to heal a leper. (2 Kings 5:10) But I was also intrigued by the interpretation this way:

If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed has faith.

Do mustard seeds have faith? I think they do, faith is the agent by which all intelligent beings act, not that mustard seeds are the most intelligent creation around, but they are living things. They exercise that faith in growing, otherwise why on earth would they bother breaking out of that dirt in the first place? The hope that anything is worth while is always the motivation for action. Which action is not based off of a sure knowledge, there is still some risk involved, and this is faith: Acting without a sure knowledge of something. ( and it is after the trial of that faith comes the witness, or knowledge. (Ether 12:6)).

In other words, I'm claiming that faith as a mustard seed is not related to the size of the mustard seed, but to the amount of work that the mustard seed goes through to become a mustard tree.

This seems like a more realistic promise. I'm more apt to believe that God will move mountains for those people who would be willing to pull out their shovels and say, "Somehow, I'm going to move this mountain!" and then start digging. Or as President Uchtdorf explains:

“When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer—no matter how eloquent the oration.”