Today we attended Palm Sunday services on line due to the Coronavirus lockdown. We have always loved this time of year. In the United States typically children would be employed to wave palm branches at the beginning of the service. Here in Ecuador, that practice has been outlawed due to environmental concerns.
Sometimes we miss pastoring. Timothy always loved preaching especially during this season of hope! Over the years he has had the opportunity to preach many Palm Sunday messages. One of our favorite Palm Sunday services was held at the Hillside Ave. Chruch of God. During the sermon, we considered the lowly donkey that carried our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that first Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1-11). Timothy encouraged the church to “Be The Donkey!”
We want to encourage you today, Be The Donkey! It is commonly known that our job as believers is to be the hands and feet of Christ in this lost and dying world. In other words, we are to take Jesus to wherever He wants to go.
As the Donkey of Christ, we must understand three important truths.
First, we must always keep in mind that the crowds are not for us. People really do not want to see the Donkey but they desperately do want to see the Savior! Our job is to be the Donkey, not the Savior!
Second, as Donkeys, we are aware that our job is not to speak our own words or do our own ministry but to carry Christ’s words on our lips, to travel His path, and to carry out His ministry. Be the Donkey and carry Jesus to people, don’t offer your own braying!
The third truth that all Donkeys must understand is that Jesus may not want to go where we want to go. He may not want to go to where we feel safe or to where we prefer to spend our time. He may lead us into danger, or into the desert, or even into the furthest parts of the Earth! As Christ’s Donkeys, we do not set our own path, we don’t have the right to do something so audacious, we go where He leads us! Be the Donkey and follow Christ’s prodding!
Today and every day after will you join us in living life in a very specific way? Will you be the Donkey of Christ? We are His Donkey in Ecuador will you be His Donkey in your neighborhood? Will you commit to taking Jesus to where He wants to go? Remember He “Came to seek and to save that which was lost!” On our own, we can seek, but we can not save! What we can do is be the Donkey! Carry to the lost and dying world the only one who can save! Let us together be the Donkey of Christ and carry Him to whom He seeks!
With much love,
The Downings
