It’s okay to be an ass. Yes, you did read that correctly.

There are some non-human characters in the Bible that are very intriguing, and one animal I find to be used for big assignments is the donkey. There are two Old Testament stories that stick out when I think of donkeys, and the first is Balaam’s donkey, the only animal in the Bible that spoke and was used by God to turn back the heart of Balaam and keep him from doing something reckless. Then there was Saul’s donkey that got lost, nothing unusual, but it was on his path of searching for his donkey that he met Samuel who told him he would be king of Israel. Donkeys, though there is nothing extraordinary about them, they did what they were meant to do, and God did the extraordinary through them. Let me give you the greatest example.

I will never forget the message of the colt. The gospels tell the story of a young donkey that had never been ridden and was tied up. Jesus told two of his disciples to go get it, and if asked, tell the owner that the Lord needed it. – Sidebar: no matter how little you have or how worthless you think it is, even if it’s immature or small, just give it to the Lord, and trust Him to use it and multiply it.

Now to pick back up. Again, there was nothing special about the colt, the owner, or the colt’s mother, he was just available. It wasn’t really strong, it hadn’t had much experience, if any at all, and it was immature, it had a lot to learn still. All the donkey was doing was being a donkey. No more, no less. It was being exactly what it was meant to be, doing exactly what it was meant to do, and that is what Jesus chose to ride on for his triumphal entry in Jerusalem.

The donkey normally gets a bad connotation with its stubbornness and it’s not a very glamorous animal. That’s just like us. With sin, we have a terrible reputation and our own righteousness is like filthy rags, not glamorous. We disappoint God and we disappoint others. We have those things about us that is our Achilles heel, like the donkey’s stubbornness, but the Lord chooses to look past all that. All He wants is us. He wants us just as we are, whatever stage in life we are in, whatever phase we are going through, whoever or whatever we may be slaved and chained to, like the colt, the Lord wants to set us free and use us. All we have to do is say yes.

Being you for a purpose is being like that donkey, in that you are where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to do, acting and being as what God created you to be. Even if you have some unpleasant things about you or you feel small, weak, immature, useless, insignificant, or inexperienced, God still desires to use you for great things. For it’s usually those times we are doing the day-to-day activities, walking in the center of His will, that God decides to shake things up and intervene on our behalf.

It’s okay to be an ass, for it was an ass that was chosen to usher in the Messiah. Just be you, and do what you are supposed to do, and watch what God will do in, by, through, and for you. I guarantee, He will blow your mind.