Hosanna Restoration Church

Recently in the night, the Lord impressed Mark 11:8 in my mind. I should have jumped right out of bed and looked it up, but instead I asked the Lord to remind me in the morning! God was faithful to remind me several times even after I read it several times. I know God well enough that if I kept seeking, He would fill me in on why He pointed this out to me. (Yes, I did ask Him why He didn’t just say the whole thing right away!)

My first thought was to look up references from Bible scholars, but I felt like the Lord intended for me to let Him lead me. Imagine that! And so this verse continued to play and replay in my mind. Whether I was reading the bible or listening to other teachers or in other daily activities, this would pop up. After a few days of this, the picture began to clear and the basic question became; am I a garment or a branch person?

I did look up and discover that the people of that time were following a tradition of one the feasts, but the Lord wants us to move beyond tradition. He is relating this to me as question of the level of our commitment.

A garment or a coat represents something of value to me. If I lay a coat down somewhere, it is important enough to make an effort to find it. How many of us have gone looking for our children’s things that have been left behind? On other hand, how many people spend much time trying to find a branch or a twig that has been misplaced?

So I see the people who laid down their coats more as people, who later wept when Jesus was taken, beaten, and crucified. After all, they had put something of value into the celebration. They laid their garments out there for a donkey to walk on along with the other things a donkey might do! Not only could their coats get soiled, but there was also the risk that someone would steal it as the crowd followed along. Of course some of them may have extra coats and just laid out an old one for show, there are always the “show” commitments, but as a rule, their garments were precious to them.

On the other hand, the folks who preferred to cut branches off the trees did not have much invested in the celebration. They just enjoyed what was provided and threw a token branch into the fray. After all, either one was acceptable according to tradition. They would be more likely to follow the crowd shouting, “Crucify Him.”

I will never know all that God has planned for my life with a leafy branch commitment. God should have no less than a garment commitment from me. So I am asking Him to show me day-in and day-out when I am getting leafy, and how to quickly change it. Ask the Holy Spirit to deepen your understanding of this question. I believe there is much more for us all to learn.