Jackass for Jesus

I am learning what it means to be a jackass for Jesus (and please excuse my King James). I don’t mean in the least that I want to be a jerk and tag the name of Jesus to my actions; that is quite the opposite of what I mean. No, when I say jackass (and I’ll use the word donkey from here on out) I mean the biblical realization of how God used donkeys.

While in a sense donkeys are quite a useful animal, they are in much more profound sense nothing but smelly, dumb animals. And yet in the Bible God uses donkeys in some incredible ways.

In Numbers 22 there’s a man, a prophet of God by the name of Balaam who was in direct communication with the physical voice of the Lord, who was sent out by a king to travel with a people of the region, the Moabites. As Balaam traveled on his donkey, an angel with sword in hand blocked his path; but it was not Balaam who saw the angel, it was the donkey. Three times the donkey turned Balaam around refusing to approach the angel. Three times Balaam beat his donkey. And then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and he spoke to Balaam about the angel. A donkey was given the ability to speak with a human tongue. Not only that, but the donkey revealed to a prophet a thing concerning the most high God.

And during Jesus’ time on earth, during His most glorified physical earthly moment, as the crowds shouted Hosanna, Jesus choose to ride in His glory on a donkey.

God used a donkey to reveal His plan to a prophet. God gave the donkey an incredible gift, a gift to speak in a manner that was infinitely above itself. And God let the donkey suffer well and persevere through it.

And God used a donkey of no particular value to ride in on glory. A donkey felt the physical touch of Jesus Christ.

I want to be a donkey. A donkey knows its weakness, knows its foolishness, and still lives according to its purpose. And God has used donkeys in tremendous ways.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says that His grace is sufficient for me; that His power is made perfect in my weakness. When I say I want to be a donkey I mean that I want to live in a manner that does not let my own weakness or foolishness stop me from living according to my purpose. I want to live in a way that I allow God to be made known not in spite of my weakness, but within it.

I want to be a jackass for Jesus.