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)
A number of years ago, my Bride and I were sitting in a hotel room with a panoramic view through the open doors of our balcony across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean in the distance.
All seemed calm and peaceful as the sunlight danced across the quiet surface of the ocean, broken occasionally by the blow of a visiting whale.
But I remember thinking that beneath that peaceful appearance there was a world below teeming with activity.
Things aren’t always what they appear to be.
We need to look deeper.
In a few days, millions around the world will pause to recognize Palm Sunday.
That day years ago when the King of Kings made His triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem.
Those who greeted Him lined the streets waving palm branches and laying them on the road before Him as He entered the city.
In their minds, He was the long-awaited-Messiah, and would replace those who currently ruled, and become their ruler in the days ahead, and then all would be well in their lives.
But things aren’t always what they appear to be.
They needed to look deeper.
Life wasn’t meant to be lived on the surface. Life was meant to be lived much deeper than that. Life wasn’t meant to be lived on the shallow and worldly surfaces we see and experience around us that draw us in and seek to define us, experiencing what ends up being only temporary and fleeting joys, comforts, and successes.
Life wasn’t meant to be shallow, limited, or viewed with such a narrow perspective. We were created to look deeper than what things appear to be on the surface.
And when we look deeper into a moment, beyond a man riding on a donkey colt, entering Jerusalem to wild cheers, waving palm branches and long-held hope, 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.
Look deeper at your life, and all that is around you. Look deeper at the legacy you are living and leaving in the lives of loved ones and others who need a lift up in life.
Is it marked by the shallow, temporary and transient things of the world?
Or is your life marked by the deeper and eternal things—the blessings of time spent in relationships, sacred moments with loved ones, opportunities embraced to help those in need—close and far—having an impact on lives around you, and in the world.
Look deeper at the life you are living. Is it directed by the world calling you to temporary things and stuff that will not last for long here, nor in eternity.
Or is it guided and marked by the King of Kings, and His calling and direction for your life—filled to the brim for you, and those others He places before you to lift up—with hope for today, and hope forever in eternity.
Things aren’t always what they appear to be.
Look deeper. Find and follow the King of Kings.
In His Name–Scott
Find a quiet place and moment to be blessed as you listen to Brooke Ligertwood sing “King of Kings.”
