Send to KindleThe other night we went to Mass in a different town. The readings were about Jesus entering Jerusalem for the last time, riding on a donkey. I have to admit, I’ve heard that story many times but never had much cause to think about the donkey.
Now we have donkeys not far from us, and I can tell you those things can be loud and annoying if they want to be. That’s really my only experience with donkeys, so I didn’t give the one Jesus rode much thought. So this sermon was an eye-opener.
You see, donkeys were a lot like cars, pickups, and tractors all rolled into one back then. A good donkey was a treasure that not many people owned. If you had one, you could ride it, you could use it to haul things, and you could use it to plow up the land for planting. In short, donkeys were very valuable.
In fact, the priest said they could be the equivalent of $50,000 in our society today.
So think about this for a second. You have this nice, brand new car that you recently purchased for $50,000. It is sitting in your driveway, and these two guys show up out of the blue and say, “We need your car.”
“Need my car?” you ask as if you know you haven’t heard them correctly. “Why?”
“Because the Master needs it.”
HAHAHA!
You tell me, would you give them the keys and let them know there’s a full tank of gas in it?
See, the donkey in this story is not an insignificant detail like I’ve always thought. That donkey represents our most prized possessions on this earth!
Are we willing to surrender our hard-earned possessions for God’s glory? Are we willing to give the things we have worked so hard to obtain to Him when He asks, just because He asked?
And notice, Jesus didn’t Himself go to get the donkey, He sent His disciples. So it might not be Jesus that shows up on your doorstep. It might be that deacon from down the street wondering if you could help them move some things on Saturday. It could be that lady from the church asking if they can use your Crockpot for the benefit.
The question is: are you allowing God to use your possessions for His glory? Or do you hoard what you have, making sure you are the only one to gain benefit from it? Do you willingly give up your greatest, most costly and prized treasures on this earth so that God’s glory can be revealed?
What’s your donkey? And what are you doing with it?
Copyright Staci Stallings, 2012
Staci Stallings, the author of this article, is a #1 Best Selling author and the co-founder CrossReads.com a new website that gives Christian readers and authors a place to meet and fellowship. With a newsletter, a blog, a forum, and other exciting, inspiring areas to visit, CrossReads visitors can find fabulous Christian books they never knew existed.
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