Christ's Mustard Seed is a Lesson on Ambition

Most Christians are familiar with Christ's comparison of faith to a mustard seed in Luke 17:5-6, but not many of us take time to read the rest of the passage.  Consider what Jesus said in the first two verses:

"And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." 

That's the part that most Christians are familiar with, but it's not the end of the passage.  Jesus continued His lesson on faith by giving an example of someone who did not have faith.  Here's what we find in the rest of the passage:

"But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." (Lk. 17:7-10)

Have you ever noticed that Christ did not teach his disciples to have faith the size of a mustard seed, but rather to have faith as a mustard seed? In Mark 4:31-32, Jesus taught that when the mustard seed is planted, it is the least of all seeds, but that it becomes greater than all the herbs as it grows into a large tree. This is the kind of faith that we need, not faith the size of a mustard seed, but faith of the same kind as the mustard seed - a faith that causes us to attempt great things regardless of our seemingly small potential.

Those that allow their limitations to dictate their ambitions are likened in verses 7-10 to a servant who works hard but is unprofitable because he has only done his duty and nothing else. We too are unprofitable servants if all we attempt to do is our Christian duty. Let's set our goals and ambitions on things that we can't ever hope to accomplish and watch God make us as profitable as the mustard seed.