When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, they greeted Him with palm branches. Zechariah prophesied that this would happen 500 years before. But they didn’t recognize Him.
There are many times when we don’t recognize the fulfillment of God’s promise in our lives. Why? We think it will look like something else. We have preconceived ideas of how God is going to fulfill His promises and we are too busy looking for those things to recognize His answer when it comes.
Jesus looked too average, too normal, to be the Messiah. He looked too humble, too poor, too common. Many times we think what God is doing is too normal to be Him.
In Matthew 21:1-3, Jesus commanded His disciples to go into the village and find a donkey and a colt and bring them to Him. Every true disciple of the Lord will obey Him and His servants. They will leave everything behind in order to follow Him.
If you want to be Jesus’ disciple you must forsake yourself, forsake your family (Luke 14:26-27), carry the cross of Jesus (Luke 14:33), give all your portion to Jesus, and give up your own rights (Luke 22:8). Forsaking your family doesn’t mean that you neglect them, but that you do not let them interfere with your relationship with God. He must be first in your life, no matter what.
As you draw near to the time of year when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, examine your heart and life to see if you are His disciple. Make yourself His disciple today. All you have to do is follow His call.
God bless you!
Pastor Sun Hui East
This is the first time I’ve really understood what the Lord means when He says “forsake”…it used to sound more negative to me, thank you, Pastor Sun, for the clarification!
Yes, I need to examine my heart. I need to do it all the time to make sure I am close to Him.
I understand your point, that we have our own definition of what something in our lives should look like, so we are blind to what God is showing us…