And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
The outlook for the world looks pretty bleak, doesn’t it? Well, use your Bible glasses… listen to who you are (if you’re a Christian). You are part of a movement that starts small… like really small… only Jesus. That wave swells and will grow like a tiny seed that grows huge (or maybe yuuuge). The church will grow, God’s kingdom will expand, and we are. If you look at the actual percentage of people on the planet who are Christian, that number is going up and has been for the last 2,000 years. The last time I looked at the research, here’s what I found was the ratio of Christians to Non-Christians in the world:
- A.D. 100 1:360
- A.D. 1000 1:220
- A.D. 1500 1:69
- A.D. 1900 1:27
- A.D. 1980 1:11
- A.D. 2005 1:7
- A.D. 2012 1:3
So who’s right? Those who say the Kingdom is in decline, or Jesus? That’s not to say there will always be an increase, but we know the gates of hell will not prevail against us (Matt 16:18), so why do we sometimes act as though we’re losing? We aren’t, we can’t!
