October 5

Not Your Own

If anyone asks, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it shortly.’ — Mark 11:3 BSB

It seems that no formal request was made to the owner for the colt. Jesus sent His disciples to take it by divine authority. This shows that the Lord has a right to anything we possess. No ownership we claim takes that title away from Him. We talk about “our” possessions, but nothing is truly ours except what the Lord has lent us to use for Him.

There are practical lessons here. Christ has the right to ask for anything we have whenever He wants to use it. He can ask for our money, for it is His far more than ours. If our possessions are lost through an act of God, we shouldn’t complain but remember that He has the right to do as He pleases with what is His. The same is true when we lose loved ones to death. The Lord has the right to take them, for they are only lent to us. When He calls them home, He is only taking what is His.

Another thought is that Christ may have a special purpose for even the humblest of our possessions. The Lord needed the Samaritan’s donkey to carry the wounded man. He needed a boy’s five loaves to feed the crowd. A mother was teaching her child that everything should be given to Christ. The little girl said, “But Jesus can’t use my doll.” Yet soon after, she let a poor child who came to the door play with her doll. Wasn’t the Lord using it then? The Lord may need our possessions—our money, our hands, our feet, our words, or our influence—and we should hold all of them ready for His call.