Beast of Burden – Luke 19:35

35 They brought the colt to Jesus. Then, throwing their coats on its back, they helped Jesus get on.

– Luke 19:35 MSG

Beast of Burden

The colt . . . the lowly colt of the lowly donkey . . . designed, created, crafted for a life of service, a life of toil, a life so ordinary and filled with hardness and never-ending labor; the only peace it will ever know is when it is no longer any use and is set aside to await its final rest. 

Ah . . . but what an amazing life! This lowly colt, tethered and owned, and awaiting it's tumultuous life; this "beast of burden," has a place forever in the pages of scripture as the very vessel which ushered in the King of Kings – our Lord – our Savior – our Beautiful Redeemer! What a wonderful way to start your career eh? I mean if even the rocks knew who Jesus was, surely this simple-minded beast knew, and walked as tall and proudly as it could as it carried our Lord through the streets of Jerusalem. The finest hour of any animal ever to parade through any town, any time, and anywhere.  This was THE gig - the big time - the BIg Show!

But was the colt the real Beast of Burden in this story?  Hmmmm . . . I'd like to think the real "Beast" in this story was the Burden that our Lord was carrying upon His shoulders. The knowledge – oh the very real knowledge of exactly what He must do . . . the weight of the entire world, present and every future generation, riding and cutting, and digging, and burning into His very flesh with each step of the colt's hoof against cobbled stone.  What a beast that load must have been! What a horrible burden our Lord had to carry.  A burden He gladly and willingly accepted as He purposefully made His way through those crooked and dusty streets.

I imagine He could see into the hearts of every soul, and He could hear every heart-beat of every person watching, and cheering (some jeering), as the "parade" marched along. As Jesus, the man, the terror must have been unbearable, but as Jesus/God, the purpose and the promise made from the beginning of time, drove Him onward - keeping the resolve. The conflict between man's Flesh and God's Love all wrapped in one, sitting on a lowly colt, marching through the crowds of unsuspecting, undeserving, un-repenting souls – a slow-moving procession if ever there was one!

We all carry burdens don't we? The burden of our children, our careers, our family and friends, our communities, our countries, our world . . . does it ever end?  The real problem is that we hold onto our burdens; like tight-fisted monkeys not willing to give up the grain of rice, we stay captive in our own unwillingness. Our unwillingness to just open our hands, palm-up, and fingers-wide – stretched high over our heads in complete surrender to the one who already took care of all of it.  Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ! He resolved all of it! He Overcame it completely and with undisputed finality! He handed to each of us the Victory over all of our burdens . . . now we just have to be willing to believe it, and accept it, and then live like we have.

Don't get me wrong, we will always have burdens, but what I'm saying is that our Lord, already resolved all of our worries, and our cares,and our hurts, and anything and everything else that is keeping us awake at night. We just need to believe it! We just need to give it up because we weren't designed to carry these burdens; because no matter what we do, no matter how much we worry, no matter how many nights we lay awake stressing over our lives . . . the only One who can do anything about it . . . already has!

Jesus is your solution, and He is my solution . . . to ALL of it!  Let's believe it, and then let's let our faces know that we believe it.  The smile that results will let the rest of the world see that we have the answer to overcoming any and ALL of life's "little" burdens. The Answer . . . the Solution . . . the Victory . . . IS JESUS!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for carrying that terrible burden and for enduring the hardship and the suffering so that we could have victorious lives. Thank You for Your Sacrifice for us.  Lord I am so sorry for the worry, and for doubt, and for the despair that I know I can hold on to for far too long. As I get to know You better, I am learning to "give it up" that much sooner but I know I still struggle sometimes.  Help me Lord to always go to You first because I know that You are my answer, You are my Healer, You are my Victory over ALL of my burdens.

Have a blessed day everyone!

– Richard

Reach Up! – 2 Corinthians 1:8

9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
– 2 Corinthians 1:8

Reach Up!
When I was a kid, my brothers and my friends and I would all gather in front of my house and we would sit on the curb on summer evenings and we would play the "cut" game.  We would all take turns "cutting each other down" to see who could come up with the funniest "cut" line.  It was ALWAYS funny when someone else was the target (not so much when it was my turn), so when it was my friend Alex' turn, someone came up with this line in reference to how short he was (and he was VERY short):  Alex is so short - he has to look UP to see DOWN!

For some reason, that line has always stayed with me and it came to my mind again when I was doing my devotion time this morning and I read this scripture.  In order to have to look up to see down, a person would have to be at a real low point – I mean rock bottom – having to look THROUGH themselves in order to see themselves. I picture it as someone who has been slammed down so hard that the force has jammed their top side down past their bottom side, and now they are inverted by the shear power of the slam.

Ever felt that way?  I have.  What did you do when it happened?  Did you wallow around in the muck of your own self pity like I used to do?  I was a champion at it – oh, poor me . . . I might as well not even exist because nobody loves me . . . wah, wah, wah – whine, whine, whine – boo-hoo, boo-hoo!

So what changed for me?  One day, when I was in a particularly low-low-low spot (I had to get a step ladder so that I could climb to a place where I could look up to see down), I noticed that despite my best efforts to convince them otherwise, nobody would climb down to join me in my pity party.  So instead of trying to see down, I decided to look up to see up.  I decided to cry out to Jesus.  You know what?  He reached down and He pulled me out of my despair.  He changed my heart and He changed my mind.  He changed the way I looked at my situations.

Notice that I didn't say He changed my situations.  We are ALWAYS going to have situations.  We are always going to face adversity and we will ALL always have to go through our trials.  He changed my attitude and my outlook when I am facing those situations, and adversities, and trials.  He let me know that when my world comes crashing down around me and I am feeling pressed down to a point where I feel as if I've been handed a death sentence, all I have to do is look up – and reach out – and call on Him.  He raises dead people up, and He can, and will reach down to you, and He will be your portion in time of need.

He is Jesus!  He is the risen King!  He is Lord, and He loves you so very much!  So next time you are feeling your world crashing in around you, look up to see Jesus – HE IS ALL YOU NEED!

Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You for always being there when I call Your name.  Thank You for being the one constant in my life, and for showing me the way to overcome my trials.  I pray for my brothers and sisters who are going through adversity right now.  I ask Lord, that You would put an urgency in their heart to look up.  Compel them to reach out and take hold of Your hand.  Show them that they can move up out of despair, and into the abundance of Your wonderful blessing. 

Have a blessed day everyone!

– Richard