How I can get in step with the processional God has in mind for me
By Dean Collins
Today I read in Scripture about two processions. There could be hundreds, thousands, or even millions more today if we were willing to pray, surrender, and act on where God sends us today.
The first procession is one we are quite familiar with and likely even heard a sermon about just a few weeks ago. It happens every year on Palm Sunday. The familiar passages from the Gospel writers are read each year. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a borrowed colt as crowds shout, “Hosanna in the highest.”
New beginnings
As I read, I remembered the processions I led just last week. I’ve lost track of how many commencements I have led as a college president. With multiple graduations in a year, I am well over 40 and maybe now closer to 50 commencements. At each one I lead the faculty into the auditorium followed by the graduating class. At the end of the service I lead the same group out of the auditorium.
For more than 16 years now I have watched a few thousand men and women of all ages and representing a wide range of ethnicities cross the stage to receive their diplomas. Sometimes it is me and sometimes it is the commencement speaker who reminds each graduate that this moment is not an ending but rather a beginning. This year’s speaker challenged the graduating class to commit to lifelong learning and a lifetime offering of their service to God.
Triumphal entry
In Mark’s recollection of the triumphal entry, we hear Jesus tell two of his disciples to go into the village, find a colt, and untie and bring it to him. Maybe the two disciples showed concern that they’d be seen as stealing this colt. Jesus assured them that if anyone asked what they were doing, they were to say, “The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.” Of course, things transpired exactly as Jesus had predicted. But the disciples would not have seen the processional Jesus would lead if they hadn’t obeyed his initial directive.
Scripture often meets us where we are as the living and breathing Word of God directs our attention to the truth we need to hear. That has happened to me again today. I had a conversation with someone who heard the nudge to make a career decision but for a few weeks had resisted. Over the weekend they realized they simply needed to trust the Lord and do what God was calling them to do and not hold back until every detail of the next steps are visible. I suspect that many times God whispers first steps of a process but waits to reveal more to us until we are obedient with the first steps.
What are we withholding that the Lord wants to use? Is it talent, money, time, certain relationships, or control? At some time or another we have clinched tightly to all of these instead of untying them and releasing them into God’s hands. I suspect we would agree that God doesn't really need our stuff. He needs our surrender to his will. When that happens, we soon discover he doesn't actually take things away from us but rather uses the things we think we are giving up in ways that bless others and give us more fulfillment than we could have imagined. He never depletes us; he only completes us as we lay down our lives before him.
Shared gospel
The apostle Paul described the other processional I read about today in 2 Corinthians 2. The picture Paul gives is Christ leading us in a triumphant processional as he uses us to share and spread his gospel everywhere. This description is not just visual but includes the aroma of a pleasing smell that accompanies us as we do God’s work. The good news of God when embraced is a complete sensory experience. As we surrender our lives to others the grand parade of God is experienced far and wide and changes lives everywhere.
As we surrender our lives to others, the grand parade of God is experienced far and wide and changes lives everywhere.
I may have led the graduates into the auditorium to receive a diploma, but I pray I led them out of the auditorium knowing that they now must offer their lives to God so that he might use them in a grand kingdom processional where their time, talent, and treasure bring the gospel to others through their lifetime on earth.
In the processional where God’s called us today, we might be leading only one or two to see Jesus in us as we live, love, and serve. But one never knows on this side of eternity how God multiplies our small offerings into a grand parade of changed lives who bring glory to God through their surrender.
I think I hear the music starting for the processional God is calling us to today!
Your time with God’s Word
Mark 11:2-10; 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 ESV
Photo courtesy of Point University.
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