Is Your Donkey Unlocked?

I ride around with my doors locked . . . always have. I have a phobia about being carjacked. Maybe I am a little crazy, but I am not too keen on someone commandeering something of mine and taking it for their own.

As I have been meditating this Easter season, I have focused often on a passage of Scripture where Jesus’ disciples were carjackers. Well, since they didn’t have cars back then I guess they weren’t technically carjackers, they were donkey-jackers. Jesus needed the donkey to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy concerning His entry into Jerusalem, so He told His disciples exactly where to go to conscript the animal.

Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.' – Luke 19:30-31

What if the owners had refused? Of course in His omniscience Jesus knew exactly what would happen, but still . . . what if? This man probably had spent quite a lot of time and money bringing this donkey into the world. He had a lot invested in it and he had plans for it. Yet he relinquished it because as the Bible says, “The Lord needs it.” Granted, He is God and He really has need of nothing, He is completely self-sufficient. But in carrying out His plan of redemption God wanted to use this particular donkey, and the owner was willing to give it up. God used this simple creature to display the great glory of His Son. Little is indeed much when God is in it, or in this case ON it.

All of us have “donkeys” in our lives that God wants to use to demonstrate His glory, yet He leaves the decision to make them available to us. Can you think of things right now you will not allow God to have? Let me suggest a few that I think are common “donkeys” among us.

Maybe your donkey is a possession – a house, car, family heirloom, clothing, financial resources, or even a “toy.” As far as you are concerned this item is yours, you will determine how, when, and where you use it. Or possibly your donkey is a position – you hold a certain level of influence and you use it to advance what you think is right. Your “donkey” could also be plans – you have mapped out your life and you are on course. Any detours, even God ordained ones, are viewed as an unwanted inconvenience.

Other donkeys could be skills, talents, time, the list is endless - different donkeys for different folks, but essentially there need be nothing in our lives that we refuse to allow God to use. So I ask you . . . are the doors of your heart locked? Or are you willing to be donkey-jacked?

Coming up, Thursday: What can we learn from an unlocked donkey?