The Smallest Speck Is Enough
By Tony Beyer
New Springs Community Church – Lee’s Summit, Missouri
When Faith Feels Too Small
Let’s be honest — sometimes faith feels paper-thin.
In Luke 17, Jesus tells his disciples that even faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mulberry tree. Sounds inspiring until you realize how absurd it is. A mustard seed is tiny — like Kansas City barbecue spice-dust tiny.
And yet Jesus says, “That’s enough.”
When life falls apart — when the MRI results aren’t good, when the papers are signed, when the grief hits again — it’s hard to believe a speck of faith can do anything.
I get that. As a gay pastor in Missouri, I know what it’s like to be told your faith isn’t enough. I know the sting of that lie — and the miracle of realizing God never asked for “enough” in the first place.
Even the Smallest Faith Can Move the Impossible
Jesus names a mulberry tree — a plant with deep, stubborn roots that refuses to die. We all have one of those in our lives.
Maybe it’s addiction.
Maybe it’s shame.
Maybe it’s loneliness that sneaks up in retirement.
Maybe it’s the news feed that keeps breaking your heart.
You might look at that tree and think, “My faith is too small to move this.”
But Jesus says even the smallest faith can start the work of uprooting what seems impossible.
Faith Is a Verb, Not a Feeling
In 2 Timothy 1, Paul tells his student Timothy:
“Fan into flame the gift of God that is in you… Guard the good treasure entrusted to you.”
Notice the verbs — fan, guard, hold, protect.
Faith isn’t about feeling confident or inspired. It’s about doing something small and stubborn. It’s showing up to worship when you don’t feel it. It’s praying when you don’t know what to say. It’s telling someone else, “You’re not alone.”
Faith isn’t a trophy you keep polished — it’s a candle on a Missouri porch in a windstorm. You spend half your time shielding it and swearing, and somehow it still burns.
The Lois and Eunice Kind of Faith
Paul reminds Timothy of his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice — women who passed on their faith in hard times. These weren’t quiet church ladies baking lemon bars. They were holy rebels who refused to let the gospel die under the weight of empire.
And honestly? That’s you, New Springs Community Church.
You’re the ones who keep showing up, who bring casseroles when grief hits, who laugh and cry together in small groups. You fan the flame for someone else, even when you don’t feel your own faith burning bright.
Mustard-Seed Grace at the Table
Every week, we gather around a small table — a crumb of bread, a sip of grape juice. It’s not fancy. It’s mustard-seed small.
But somehow, this meal uproots shame and death and plants grace instead.
It’s absurd that God meets us in carbs and Welch’s grape juice in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. And yet that’s exactly where resurrection happens — not in power or perfection, but in small, ordinary faith.
When You Feel Like You Don’t Have Enough
If your faith feels gone, remember: God still has the lighter.
If your faith feels fragile, trust the mustard seed.
If you think you don’t have enough, you already do.
God isn’t timid.
God is love.
God is power.
God is presence — even when you don’t feel any of those things.
So maybe the prayer isn’t “Lord, increase my faith.”
Maybe it’s:
“Lord, help me trust this ridiculous, scandalous little speck you’ve already planted.”
Let’s Talk About It
At New Springs, we believe faith grows best in conversation — not perfection.
Two questions to reflect on this week:
What’s your “mulberry tree” — that deeply rooted thing you’re sure your faith is too small to move?
When has your faith felt fragile, and what simple act of “showing up” — yours or someone else’s — helped fan the flame again?
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