Today's Surrender Is Tomorrow's FreedomНамуна

We are never more like Jesus than when we surrender.

Today’s passage offers us a quiet reminder of two keys to surrendered living. We see them in the actions of people who could be easy to overlook, expressed in just a few letters in our English translations.

We see the first in v.32, after Jesus told two of His disciples to procure a specific donkey colt for Him to use. The instructions are very specific, and also leave a lot to be desired. But notice what the two disciples did in response to Jesus’ instructions: “Those who were sent ahead went…” (v.32, emphasis added).

It’s a small word, only four letters in English, but it is one of the greatest keys to surrender: obedience. These disciples could have asked questions, grumbled, delayed, or responded in any other number of ways. Instead, they obeyed.

Without obedience, there is no surrender.

• When it makes sense, and when it doesn’t.
• When it’s easy, and when it’s not.
• When others support it, and when they don’t.
• When it costs you little, and when it requires everything.
• When it’s comfortable, and when it’s painful.
• When you stand with others, and when you stand alone.

Jesus cannot be your Lord if you will not obey Him.

For the second key to surrendered living, notice what happened when they found the donkey. The owners of the colt asked them what they were doing (v.33), the two disciples responded as Jesus instructed (v.34), and the donkey colt was delivered to Jesus (v.35). It’s easy for us to miss the gravity of what is happening here.

Taking this colt was not like borrowing one bicycle from a family of five who has seven bicycles; it was more like borrowing a garden tractor from a group of poor farmers who have no other way to provide for their needs. A group of very poor families all pitched in their life savings to purchase this donkey so they could use it to feed their children, and allowing these disciples to take it was a costly and precious sacrifice. Yet their posture was punctuated by open hands.

Like these unnamed disciples and donkey-owners, is your posture one of open-handed obedience? Are you willing to surrender that which you hold most dear to make Jesus your Lord?