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When Jesus walked the earth, He owned little more than the clothes on His back. He simply borrowed what He needed.

	Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.—Matthew 5:42

He was conceived in a borrowed womb and delivered in a borrowed manger. He was raised by a borrowed family and grew up in a borrowed culture. God, not Joseph, was His true Father.

Jesus borrowed water to make wine. He borrowed 12 disciples to spread His message. He preached from a borrowed boat and slept in borrowed lodgings. He borrowed a coin from a fish to pay His taxes, and heads of grain from a farmer to satisfy His physical hunger.

He preached in a borrowed synagogue. From the woman at the well, He asked to borrow a bucket to draw water. From a boy, He borrowed five loaves and two fishes to feed 5,000 people. On a borrowed Sabbath, He healed a man's withered hand. He rode to town on a borrowed donkey, ate the Last Supper in a borrowed room, borrowed a basin to wash His disciple's feet and a towel to wipe them.

They buried Him in a borrowed tomb. But He gave it back three days later.

Neither death nor the grave could hold Him.

Jesus demonstrated that our natural life consists of nothing but borrowed time, for eternal life is our true destiny.

What happened to what Jesus borrowed? He didn't wear it out, break or abuse it, but multiplied it or left it in better condition than before. From the borrowed manger, He became Emmanuel—God with us. With a borrowed bucket, He revealed the source of living water and transformed a woman and her village. From the borrowed Sabbath, He gives us the true Sabbath of resting in Him. From the borrowed tomb, He gave us resurrection life, the greatest gift in the universe. And through our borrowed lives, He continues to offer this gift to all who will believe.

Adapted from The Plain Truth, May/June 2003. Used by permission.

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