[Honeykiss1974]

What Do You Have Tied Up?

The question I'm hoping you are asking yourself is "What do I have tied up that Jesus wants to use?" You remember the story in Luke 19 where Jesus sent two disciples to get a donkey for him to ride into Jerusalem. He told them where that donkey would be, and he instructed them to untie it and bring it to him.

When they started to untie it, as Jesus told them to do, the owners of that donkey asked them what they were doing. Well, wouldn't you if that was your donkey? I can also imagine that they were a little perturbed to see two strangers taking their prized colt, evidently a young colt, since it had never been ridden. Can you put yourselves in their shoes? I wonder if they screamed at the disciples: "Why are you untying our colt?" I wonder if they were upset?

At any rate, when the disciples explained that Jesus had requested to use this colt, this one particular colt, it seemed to put an end to the entire discussion. Without another question, they gave the colt to the disciples for Jesus to use. I have to believe they knew who Jesus was. Perhaps they had heard him speak; maybe they'd seen him heal someone or cast out a demon. Their willingness to let go of a valuable possession so unquestioningly leads me to believe that Jesus was someone they knew about, someone they respected, perhaps even loved. I don't believe they would have so easily let that donkey go if they hadn't met Jesus.

You know, when you've met Jesus, when he has touched your life, when you've been transformed by his saving grace, it's not a matter of giving anything up or sacrificing. It is, instead, a deep desire to give him anything you've got that he wants. The greatest joy of your heart is to give back to the One who has given so much for you.

There should be no hesitation on our part to untie anything we have and allow Jesus to use it. But often I find myself in selfish mode, do you? I think in terms of my time or my money or my things, and I don't want to untie them. Just recently as I was traveling a situation arose where I didn't want to untie my time; I didn't want someone to intrude on my plans for my time. That old selfish nature comes to the surface easily.

But the Spirit of God convicted me and I was reminded again that it isn't my time, because I belong to Jesus and everything I have is his. One of the prayers I regularly pray is that God will make me to see that I am possessionless and positionless. In reality, I own nothing; I am a steward of God's gifts and will be accountable to him for all that has been entrusted to me. When we really come to see that, it isn't so hard to untie whatever it is that Jesus asks for, because it doesn't belong to us anyway.

What do you have tied up? What are you clinging to that God wants to use? You're missing a great blessing by hanging on to it.