Last year, a tech firm in South Africa demonstrated that a carrier pigeon could carry data faster than the nation’s premier Internet provider. Unlimited IT strapped a data card to the leg of a pigeon named Winston and sent him off on his 50-mile flight from their headquarters to the coastal town of Durban. At the same time, they began a data download using one of their office computers. Winston arrived in an hour and 8 minutes. The download took two hours and 6 minutes.

Many of us live as though we believe the old cliché, bigger is better. The ones who have the most money or power have the most followers—we believe these are the only ones who have an opportunity to make a meaningful impact in our world. Jesus, however, paints a very different picture.

In first-century Palestine, the mustard seed was one of the smallest seeds the farmers knew. A mustard seed represented something diminutive, seemingly insignificant. Yet, Jesus chose this inconsequential speck to explain to His followers God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God often begins small, like a tiny seed; yet after it is planted, it “becomes the largest of garden plants” (Matthew 13:32). And after it has finished growing, it offers shelter to all who will accept it. “It grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.”

Jesus offers this parable as more than a reassuring or comforting story. Far more. For this is actually what “the kingdom . . . is like” (v.31). In God’s kingdom, size and power and reputation mean little. In fact, God chooses “things the world considers foolish” and taps the shoulder of those who “are powerless” (1 Corinthians 1:27). God is searching for those who will obey Him, not for those who are impressive in the world’s eyes.