Palm Sunday--Choose Your Attitude

At the heart of Palm Sunday is Jesus’ desire to bring peace into our lives and to be willing to carry whatever burdens in life that are weighing us down. But the only way Jesus can complete his desire, is for us to allow him to march in and take over without having to fight us all along the way. Have you ever told God, ”you can march over there, but don’t come this way because I’m not yet ready to surrender.” Where ever Jesus is not fully welcome in our lives, is where the real battle is taking place for our attitudes. We’re doing all kinds of things hoping to find some peace, but God is saying, until you get your attitude together right here, you shall not have peace as you seek for it.

When the two disciples returned with the colt and the donkey, they placed their coats and garments upon the young colt to serve as a saddle for Jesus. The parade is about to start. So far it consists of a large number of people who have recently seen the miracles Jesus had done such as raising Lazarus from the dead and the healing of Blind Bartimaeus. They were from Galilee and other parts of the country on their way to Jerusalem for the feast. There were the disciples themselves, along with Jesus, a donkey and her colt.

As the parade began, different attitudes started to manifest themselves. The first attitude was those who wanted to immediately offer Jesus the best that they had. They took off their coats and clothing and begin to lay it down the pathway as to form a royal carpet for the animals to walk on. They were not concerned that their clothes might not be reusable or that they would not be able to get them back. Their focus was on going all out to honor Jesus Christ. Is this your attitude when it comes to serving God? Lord you can count on me to give whatever I have without thinking about it. This was the group that gave Above and Beyond what was expected. These were the real NUTS in the crowd who could say, “we never underestimate the spirit.”

Then there was another group with another attitude at the parade that day. It’s the attitude of giving something good, even if its not the best they could give. They kept their coats and clothing, but they were willing to go and cut down the palm branches and lay them down as a means of honoring and respecting Jesus. They are in the parade and they look pretty good.

This is where many people are in the church today. They’re doing a pretty good job, and investing themselves in the work of the Jesus, but they haven’t decided that all that I am truly belongs to God. They believe it as a head knowledge, but its not a reality in their hearts. They are still not convinced that doing things God’s way is the best way to handle their lives.

Then there were those who were there, but they never actually became a part of the parade, they just sort of stood alongside the road and cheered a little bit. They were willing to take notice of Jesus and to even give him a handclap, but they were too concerned with other things to actually get involved. As soon as Jesus passed them by, they went on about their business as people do once the parade is gone.