{"id":2320,"date":"2011-01-10T15:22:20","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T23:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/?p=2320"},"modified":"2011-01-27T14:20:16","modified_gmt":"2011-01-27T22:20:16","slug":"a-word-of-grace-jan-10-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/a-word-of-grace-jan-10-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"A Word of Grace &#8211; Jan 10, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/mondaynew.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-722\" title=\"mondaynew\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/mondaynew.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"136\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/mondaynew.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/mondaynew-300x81.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dear Friends:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, &#8220;Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, &#8216;The Lord needs them.&#8217;\u00a0 And he will send them immediately.&#8217;This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying &#8220;Tell the daughter of Zion, Look your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.&#8221; The disciples went and did as Jesus directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, put their cloaks on them and he sat on them <\/em>(Matt. 21:1-6).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Transportation? Beast of burden? Net worth? Prized Possession? Family pet?&#8211;What did the donkey and the colt represent to their anonymous owner? Was he aware of the prophecy of the coming Messiah and his supporting role in its fulfillment? Or did he have the simple certainty of a Spirit-filled heart that &#8220;Anything and everything I possess really belongs to my Lord?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What we do know is that his response was quick and unequivocal&#8211;the response of a faithful steward, not a possessive owner. His relinquishment carries with it the sure scent of trust, obedience and gratitude. The authentic sign of a heart-gift is its dear cost given willingly without question or negotiation. The donkey and colt were not bargaining chips. They were released into the unconditional current of grace and history. This gift was used by Christ to move on toward the salvation of the donkey&#8217;s owner and us.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>This story challenges me. Am I willing to let go of all that I claim as mine to Christ&#8211;possessions; pets&#8211;whether people, ideas or projects; burdens and the means I&#8217;ve devised for carrying them; my <em>modus operandi? <\/em>Am I willing to let go of my support for my present circumstances&#8211;the donkey? Am I willing to release my expectation for the future&#8211;the colt? Am I willing to yield to the fulfillment of God&#8217;s Word in my life regardless of the cost?<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t care that the owner of the donkey was anonymous. I want to be like him. When the Lord says to me, &#8220;I have need,&#8221; whether of me or mine, I desire the unquestioning heart and the generous soul of that man. May Christ be on his way and I never look back in regret for serving him. What about you?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him&#8221; (Ps. 34:8).<\/p>\n<p>Under the mercy of Christ,<\/p>\n<p>Kent<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Please     note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his  own and are     not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have  not   edited   his writing in any substantial way and have permission from    him to  post  his content.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"..\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/kent-hansen.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;\" title=\"kent-hansen\" src=\"..\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/kent-hansen-246x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"148\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a>Kent     Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices     corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann,     Yaeger &amp; Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the     general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma     Linda, California.<\/p>\n<p>Finding God&#8217;s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life,     spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent&#8217;s passions. He has     written two books,\u00a0<em>Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places<\/em> published by Review &amp; Herald in 2002 and\u00a0<em>Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God&#8217;s Love Through Prayer<\/em>,     published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and     essays about God&#8217;s encompassing love have been published in magazines     and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the  southern    California mountains, following major league baseball,  playing the  piano   or writing his weekly email devotional, &#8220;A Word of  Grace for  Your   Monday&#8221; that is read by men and women from Alaska to  Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<p>Kent and his beloved Patricia are enjoying their 31st year of marriage. They are the proud parents of Andrew, a college student.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Friends: Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, &#8220;Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, &#8216;The Lord needs them.&#8217;\u00a0 And he will send them immediately.&#8217;This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[226,225],"tags":[649,227],"class_list":["post-2320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-word-of-grace","category-devotional","tag-a-word-of-grace","tag-kent-hansen"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Word of Grace - Jan 10, 2011 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/a-word-of-grace-jan-10-2011\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Word of Grace - Jan 10, 2011 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Friends: Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, &#8220;Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 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