You are the Donkey – a Palm Sunday Devotional
Palm Sunday is next week. Palm Sunday is a day we Christians commemorate as we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem during this Easter season. Before Jesus entered the city, he told his disciples, “go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once’” (Matthew 21:2-3). The Bible says Jesus rode in on a donkey while the people of the city lined the streets, laid their coats on the ground for people to walk on, waved palm branches, and celebrated his coming.
Jesus decided to use the donkey. The donkey was not necessary to Jesus’ entrance. He could have walked or rode a camel, but Jesus desired to use the donkey. It would have been a grave mistake for the donkey to think all the honor and celebration was for him.
How often do we do this though? We accept praise on God’s behalf. We believe God needed to use us because of our great talents or abilities. We think that our personal contributions to God’s plan deserve recognition. The fact is Jesus had several reasons for choosing the donkey—it was an act of humility, it was symbolic, etc. However, none of the reasons had to do with the donkey’s great ability at being a donkey. We need to remember that we are the donkeys in God’s story. God doesn’t use us because He has to since we are so great. God uses us because He wants us to experience something bigger than ourselves that we might understand our humble relation to His great power.
As usual, you are probably thinking, “Okay, what in the world does this have to do with my marriage?” Slow down, I am getting to the application! Just let this resonate for a second: You are the donkey, and God is… GOD. How could this not revolutionize your marriage? When we better understand our relation to the Almighty God, we realize we have no right to feel prideful or have an unrealistic sense of self-importance. When we are humble in front of the Lord, it becomes easier to be humble in service to one another. Most importantly, when we realize that all good things are God working through us and not anything we can do out of our own personal abilities, we do not feel the need to get thanks for every little thing we do. Thank yous become a blessing and not a necessity. Therefore, your marriage will no longer be a record-keeping list of the praises you believe you deserved.
This Easter season consider the idea that God does not need you to accomplish His plan, but He wants to use you… What a humbling thought! Remember everything we do is to bring glory to Him, not ourselves. We don’t deserve any personal praise or accolades, but we are blessed any time God has chosen to do His good and perfect will through us. May we all remember to be humble in our perspective to God and others. We are lowly (but blessed) donkeys. Don’t make the mistake that the party is all for you!