Simply Surrender
“‘...why are you untying that colt?” And the disciples simply replied, ‘The Lord needs it.” - Luke 19:33-34
What is interesting about the story of the donkey’s owners in Luke 19 is that as the disciples are untying and taking their colt, they didn’t ask any questions. They didn’t say, “Now, what is He going to do with it?” or “What are y’all going to do with my money, I mean, my colt?”
They didn’t do that. They simply surrendered what they had for a greater purpose. “The Lord needs it,” and that was it. There are many reasons they might not have asked any questions, but perhaps none bigger than understanding who they were giving it to. They weren’t giving it to the disciples; they were giving it to the Master.
See when you are giving to the disciples, you say things like “Oh, the mortgage is paid off now, I don’t need to give anymore,” as if our giving is about the building. When your giving is motivated by institutional maintenance you say, “What are they gonna do with my money now?” But the owners of the colt didn’t do that. They knew the difference between possession and ownership.
Many of us say we own our homes, but we really don’t own them. Miss a few mortgage payments and you’ll find out real quick that you really don’t own your house. You just possess it. Sometimes we hold on too tight to that which does not belong to us anyway. What if they had said, “Hey, hey, hey! You can’ take that colt. I’ve got plans for that colt. I haven’t ridden on it because I had plans to use it another way. Here, let the Master use this other animal.”
They didn’t do that. They show us that you will be happier in life if you don’t hold on too tight to what you think is yours; you simply surrender. You don’t hold too tight to your dreams, your visions, your plan for how you think things ought to work out. You’ve got to learn how to surrender to a plan, a purpose, and a will that is greater than what you had planned! It is time to simply surrender.
What is interesting about the story of the donkey’s owners in Luke 19 is that as the disciples are untying and taking their colt, they didn’t ask any questions. They didn’t say, “Now, what is He going to do with it?” or “What are y’all going to do with my money, I mean, my colt?”
They didn’t do that. They simply surrendered what they had for a greater purpose. “The Lord needs it,” and that was it. There are many reasons they might not have asked any questions, but perhaps none bigger than understanding who they were giving it to. They weren’t giving it to the disciples; they were giving it to the Master.
See when you are giving to the disciples, you say things like “Oh, the mortgage is paid off now, I don’t need to give anymore,” as if our giving is about the building. When your giving is motivated by institutional maintenance you say, “What are they gonna do with my money now?” But the owners of the colt didn’t do that. They knew the difference between possession and ownership.
Many of us say we own our homes, but we really don’t own them. Miss a few mortgage payments and you’ll find out real quick that you really don’t own your house. You just possess it. Sometimes we hold on too tight to that which does not belong to us anyway. What if they had said, “Hey, hey, hey! You can’ take that colt. I’ve got plans for that colt. I haven’t ridden on it because I had plans to use it another way. Here, let the Master use this other animal.”
They didn’t do that. They show us that you will be happier in life if you don’t hold on too tight to what you think is yours; you simply surrender. You don’t hold too tight to your dreams, your visions, your plan for how you think things ought to work out. You’ve got to learn how to surrender to a plan, a purpose, and a will that is greater than what you had planned! It is time to simply surrender.
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