Does your team really need you? There can be no greater feeling than having the team captain point at you and say, “we need you.” My team  needs me, but not as in “we really need you to win this match.” It’s more likely, “can you show up in case one of the players doesn’t make it.”

Tennis is but one of many teams I play on. There is one important team, however, that tops all the rest and it’s Christ’s team. I was invited to this team as a child and accepted membership through faith. But am I really needed?

The answer comes (this week before Easter) in the drama played out by the disciples in preparation for the Passover supper. 

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

Mark 11:1-3

“The Lord needs it.” Other translations use the expression “master,” and the word “needs” may be understood as “depends upon.”

It is not a great leap for me to think of myself as something that Christ needs and depends upon. I have no problem humbly substituting for a donkey, a vehicle to carry the Master’s message. The big question I must face is, will I carry Christ’s message during the Good Friday’s of life.

The Master does need me, regardless of my skills—in fact, for the very reason that I have few skills— for He will be my strength. 

How do you answer the question, “are you needed?”

Remember: 

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last

John 15:16

Photo: 1967-68 Florida State Men’s Tennis, courtesy of Florida State Athletics