By: Clint Fisher, Upper Elementary Principal

We often hear others talk about family devotions. But why would we take more time out of our busy lives to plan or read a devotion? One significant reason is that what we value shapes and directs our lives. We lead others to what we value … be it sports, wealth, or influence. We live for what we value.

We, as parents, want to instill deep and lasting values in our children. Values are not things to be given. They are caught! They pass onto our children through hard times, through fun times, and through conversation (and much repetition).

Family devotions allow us to tell our children that talking about God is valuable enough to set aside time as a family to do it.

Perimeter School values partnering with parents, and we want to provide you with the following short devotions to share with your family as we approach Easter Sunday.

These come from Mark 11, which outlines the events of Palm Sunday. Each has a word picture that will help point all of us to the story of Easter.

A Donkey - Mark 11:1-11

Jesus is walking with His disciples to Jerusalem. As they walk, Jesus sends two of His disciples into a village to get a young donkey that no one has ever ridden. His disciples find this donkey and bring it back to Him. Jesus gets on the donkey, and people begin laying their cloaks and palm branches down on the ground in front of Him, singing as He rides into the city of Jerusalem.

There are few things to note from what occurred…

First, Jesus requested a donkey and not a horse. This is not the way that a “normal” king would ride into a city. A king would be expected to come with grandeur, riding on a great horse or a team of horses. However, Jesus came humbly. This fulfills the prophecy from Zachariah 9:9.

Second, a donkey is by nature a beast of burden. Prophets would often arrive with some illustrative picture associated with the message they were speaking. Jesus chose a donkey to illustrate His rule as King. He came to His people not as a conquering king but as a servant carrying their burdens. Jesus also chose a donkey that had never had a burden placed upon it. It was pure and undefiled like Him.

Christ came like a donkey to carry our sin, guilt, and shame.

A Fig Tree - Mark 11:12-14

The next morning Jesus walks back into the city. He is hungry and sees a fig tree in the distance. He approaches it to see if it has any figs for Him to eat. It does not have figs because it is the wrong season and figs are not growing. Yet, He says to the tree, “May no one ever eat from you again.” As a result, the fig tree withers and dies.

First, we need to remind ourselves that Jesus is not like us. People are selfish, reactive, and sinful. Jesus was not reacting out of any of these emotions when He cursed the tree. The Bible is clear that Jesus was without sin. If Jesus reacted at this moment out of selfish emotion, He would no longer be pure and could no longer be the sacrifice for all our sins.

Second, Jesus expected the fig tree to produce figs for Him. He saw the tree from a distance and purposefully walked up to it to see if it had any figs. When the fig tree did not have fruit for Him, it was cursed and cut off from life. To make the situation more significant, Jesus expected the fruit tree to bear fruit outside of its normal season. This makes it clear that Jesus expected something from the fig tree that it could not do naturally.

God expects us to do things we cannot do. He commands us to be holy. He commands us to bear all the fruits of the Spirit … not just the ones that are easy for our personality.

A whip - Mark 11:15-19

Jesus arrives at the temple inside the city. The evening before, He had inspected the temple and saw traders and money exchangers turning the temple into a market. That night, He went out and made a whip. He takes the whip and drives everyone out of the temple. He then begins to teach the people and will not let anyone pass through the temple.

First, we must remind ourselves that Jesus was purifying the house of God. The temple was the central home for a relationship with God. Again, His actions are not reactive anger but loving passion to make sure that nothing gets in between God and His people.

Second, we realize that the temple of God is not just a building. We, as God's people, are a living temple where God resides through His Spirit. If Jesus was that passionate about removing distractions and selfishness from a building, how much more will He be passionate about removing it from us … the living, true temple of God?

Jesus is passionate about removing things from our lives that interfere with or distract us from our relationship with God.

A Promise - Mark 11:20-32

The disciples ask Jesus about the withered fig tree as they are walking outside the city. Jesus simply instructs them to have faith. He explains that if they have faith, they could even tell a mountain to cast itself into the sea.

First, there is great power in God! Jesus knew that He was about to leave His disciples, and He wanted them to know with full assurance that the power of God is available to accomplish what He is about to ask of them. They (and we) will need to have faith that God is with us, even as we endure great suffering.

Second, Jesus does not leave us to ourselves. He tells us to have faith. Where does faith come from? Faith comes by hearing the Word. It is through God's Word and His promises that faith is created within us. His promises produce faith.

Matthew 13:44 reminds us that God’s kingdom is like a man who found a treasure hidden in a field and out of joy went and sold all that he had to buy the field. We are to be a people digging in the field of God's Word to find the promises that will produce faith in us and allow us to sell all that we have out of joy.

I pray that these pictures will point you to the hope we have in Christ because of Easter! Like the fig tree, God's expectations of us are more than we can accomplish on our own. Yet, as our donkey, Jesus will carry that burden and produce the fruit in and through us. He promises that He is going to accomplish this for us and is passionate about drawing us into a relationship with Him as He does so.