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Dalton
Roberts |
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Country lawyer John Acuff writes a short daily inspirational column online and I enjoy them. Recently he wrote on Palm Sunday. That was the day Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time – just days before His crucifixion. Here He came riding on a donkey with people throwing palm fronds in front of him. The main message to me is that many of the people really did adore Jesus but they wanted Him to be who they wanted Him to be rather than who He was. You will never have trouble with people liking you as long as you let them twist you into the shape they like. If you’ve lived just a week or two, you know people are always trying to change you: “I sure could love you if you’d just let me melt you down as you are and reshape you exactly like I want you to be.” I remember a man who came home from work everyday and had a little check sheet. He walked through the house to make sure his wife had cleaned and properly dusted everything. He loved her as long as she conformed to his check sheet. People will withhold their approval and if you keep on being who you want to be, they will withdraw their love. They will throw palm fronds in your path today and kill you tomorrow. Jesus tried to tell them who He was by his mode of transportation. He could have entered town on the shoulders of his adoring friends. But he chose to make His appearance on the back of a donkey. He was saying, “I do not want pomp and glory. I am meek and kind. I want you to be meek and kind. I want you to learn humility. It’s the only way you can become a good person. The ego is a nasty thing and until you bring it under control, you can have no peace and spiritual power. I do not want an earthly, ego-driven kingdom, I want a spiritual kingdom composed of people who are kind, gentle and loving.” Though our theologians have only suggested one reason He died, there were surely many reasons. I think they miss one of the big ones. That was to show he would not change his message even if it meant death. He was saying, “When you commit yourself to the highest principles of love and service, you cannot veer from that course. You must live it in all circumstances. Your authenticity is your only guarantee of resurrection.” The Jewish people were expecting a king who would set up an earthly kingdom. He knew there could be no earthly kingdom worth having until men and women were changed by the spiritual power He so freely offered. Ego-driven people do not possess spiritual power. There is more greed in their hearts than desire to serve. There is more pride than kindness in them. Any kingdom you set up with unloving, uncaring, uncommitted, unspiritual people is a kingdom Jesus would not fit. He came to bring us the spiritual tools to build a world worth living in. In all His parables of the kingdom of heaven, he showed us how to change ourselves and our world to create a society where He would be willing to serve as our leader. He wanted a world of changed people -- people baptized in love so completely that they could not help but live in peace. If He came back today, people would still kill Him. They still prefer pomp and earthly power. They are still not using the tools he gave them to create new hearts and a higher vision of the meaning of spiritual power. The good news is that everyone who wants to enter the spiritual kingdom he talked about can enter it at any time and have Him in their heart right now, tomorrow and forever.
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