January 14

MISSING THE POINT

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Zechariah 9:9-10

I love how this passage starts. It is so majestic and grand. THE KING IS COMING! I start to picture something out of a King Arthur story. I can see Jesus, looking very much like Sean Connery, riding through a corridor of knights holding high their torches. Then I get to the last part of verse 9. I check my Bible to make sure I did not misread the verse.

“riding on a donkey…the foal of a donkey”

Uhm Zechariah are you sure? That just does not fit. It does not match the movie scene in my head. Surely Jesus was a on a great stead. You know, similar to how Donkey looks as a horse in Shrek 2. So I flip over to the New Testament to see the playing out of this prophecy. WOW! It really was a donkey. Hmm.

I read on in Zechariah and see what verse 10 has to say. As I do, the truth nails me. You see great stallions were used in war. That is why we can so easily picture King Arthur, or Napoleon, or George Washington mounted on a horse. They rode horses into battle. They did not ride a donkey, let alone the foal of a donkey. Donkeys are much slower and more peaceful. If you want to go to war, you want a swift animal underneath you. This brings me to a really simple conclusion: Jesus did not come to start a war, or to even engage in one already taking place. He came to spread peace.

Earlier, I mentioned this verse not synching up with the way I think it should be. I think that is true for this entire passage. This is one of the areas I believe we really miss the mark in leaving Jesus’ footprints. We are so eager to be right and to be heard, that we fail to live like Him. We become combative and argumentative. As we seek to defend our worldview and God’s truth, we forget to spread peace and encourage people. Growing up in church I have heard the phrase, “love the sinner, hate the sin,” over and over. Yet I have rarely seen this principle lived out. I think there are many reasons for this, which we will continue to explore the next 11 ½ months. Today though, I encourage you to consider leaving peace, instead of hatred or displeasure.

Today leave His footprints by going out of your way to brighten someone’s day and share peace with them.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!