Jesus told the disciples what to say when they went to borrow the colt that Jesus was going to ride into Jerusalem on. Jesus told them to tell anyone who asked why they were taking it to say:
The Lord needs them.
The Lord needs them.
Have you ever given any thought to the fact that the Lord needs you? We spend a lot of time talking about how much we need God which we most certainly do. God has provided us with the very air that we breath. We need Him.
The writer to the Hebrews wrote this:
because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Hebrews 7:24-27 NIV)
Did you catch that? He wrote such a high priest truly meets our need. What is our need? Salvation! Through his death on the cross Jesus has met our greatest need. Because of what He did for us salvation has been guaranteed, all we have to do is repent, believe and live for Him.
Peter wrote in his second letter:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV)
God provides for our daily needs of life as well. In the Lord’s prayer Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily needs. He taught in that prayer, “give us this day our daily bread”. We’re invited to bring our needs to God daily.
Think for a moment about the marriage relationship. If in a marriage one spouse does all the work of meeting the needs of the other spouse, always doing stuff, always giving but never receiving, never having their needs met, is that a healthy marriage relationship? Of course it isn’t, it’s very selfish on the part of the spouse who is always on the receiving end.
The Christian life can turn our relationship with God into that same type of unhealthy relationship. It can develop into a relationship where we constantly run to God for this, that or the other thing, always asking God for stuff yet never doing anything for God.
Look at what Jesus said about this:
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:9-12 NIV)
God wants to bless us, God wants to give to us. But, that deep theological term I add. But Jesus says that we are to do to others what you would have them do to you.
The Lord needs them, the Lord needs you. You and I are His hands and his feet.
Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthians:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
At the very basic level of Christianity we carry the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Death and Resurrection around in our bodies so that others will see Jesus within us. That’s not my idea, that’s straight from the Bible.
Paul wrote to the Galatians:
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)
What is the law of Christ? Paul doesn’t explicitly say, but I believe that what he’s implying there is Jesus response to the Pharisees about the greatest commandment. Jesus said:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
That “carrying around in our body the death of Jesus”, that “carrying each other’s burden’s” really is just the natural outflow of a life of loving God with our entire being, heart soul and mind. It’s really demonstrated them by loving our neighbor as ourselves.
The Lord needs them, the Lord needs you.
What do you have that you’re holding on to that the Lord needs today?
Have you taken up your cross today to follow him or are you sitting on the sidelines?
Are you loving God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength and you neighbor as yourself?
If you were asked today “Who is this?”, how would you answer? Could you answer like Peter when Jesus asked him how he thought Jesus was? Peter said:
You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
Is Jesus your savior today? I would urge you not to delay a single moment long but come to faith in Jesus today.
What do you need from Jesus today?
I had a boss who would frequently say to me “I know you already have a lot on your plate, but can you do this or that.” She’d then give me something else to do besides everything else I was working on. Is your plate full? There is one who wants to take on that burden you are carrying. Why not turn all that stuff over to Jesus and let Him carry your load?
