Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city, and a huge crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him, shouting, “The Savior! God bless the King of Israel! Hail to God’s Ambassador!”
Jesus rode along on a young donkey, fulfilling the prophecy that said: “Don’t be afraid of your King, people of Israel, for he will come to you meekly, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
John 12: 12-15 (TLB)“He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings.
Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home. Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.
John 20: 5-11 (NLT)“Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?’”
Luke 9: 23-25 (NLT)
In a few days from now, millions of us around the world will pause to recognize Palm Sunday. That day over 2000 years ago when the King of Kings made His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, riding on a donkey.
And as we read in the scripture a moment ago, those who greeted him lined the streets waving palm branches and laying them on the road before Him as He entered the city.
He was the long-awaited-Messiah, and they believed in the days ahead, He would replace those who currently ruled, and all would then be well in their lives.
They needed to look deeper.
And when we look deeper, beyond a man riding on a donkey colt, entering Jerusalem to wild cheers from people waving palm branches, we find a Savior who came to take upon Himself our imperfections and our sinful natures which separate us from Him—not so He could rule for a few years in the world—but so He could rule forever in our hearts and lives.
And when we look deeper into a tomb as John, Peter and Mary did, a tomb which on the surface appears empty, we find a moment filled with eternal hope for all the moments of our lives.
Things are not always what they appear to be. Look deeper.
Look deeper at your life, and all that is around you. Look deeper at those sacred gifts of those who love you close at hand. Look deeper at those who need you.
Look deeper at your life and the impact you can have and legacy you can leave.
Is it marked by the transient things of the world, like wins, losses, money, image, and stuff? Or is it marked by the deeper and eternal things that help and lift others through struggles, heartaches, disappointments, failures, and uncertainties which we all face.
Look deeper for the eternal things like opportunities to lift those lives around you with your time, talents, and treasures, having an impact and leaving a legacy with your life—not marked by the number of years in your life, but by the number of lives God brought before you impacted for good in your years.
Look deeper at the impact you’re having, the legacy you’re leaving—is it marked by the world’s stuff, or the important things we are called to by the King of Kings who approached Jerusalem on a donkey, and left us with an empty tomb of eternal Hope.
In the song “King of Kings” Brooke Ligertwood shares, in part, these words—
Praise the Father, praise the Son, Praise the Spirit, three in One.
God of glory, Majesty, Praise forever to the King of Kings
To reveal the kingdom coming, and to reconcile the lost.
To redeem the whole creation, You did not despise the cross.
For even in Your suffering, You saw to the other side.
Knowing this was our salvation, Jesus for our sake You died.
A reminder for us to look deeper at the purpose He created for our lives.
To touch the world with Him, and for Him as He did, and calls us to do.
Look deeper. Follow the King of Kings.
In His Name–Scott
Be blessed by Brooke Ligertwood, and Hillsong Worship as they perform and share a message of hope, and purpose for our lives in the powerful anthem— “King of Kings.”
