| Could I Be Mistaken For JESUS?!A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales
convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they
would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner.
In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen
inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples.
Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back,
they all managed to reach the plane in time for their boarding.
All but one.
He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings,
and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose
apple stand had been overturned.
He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye,
told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home
destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned
to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did.
The 16-year-old girl was totally blind!
She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in
frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her
spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one
stopping and no one to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples,
put them back on the table and helped reorganize her display.
As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become dirty,
battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl,
"Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?"
She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope
we didn't spoil your day too badly." As the salesman started to
walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister..."
He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.
She continued, "Are you Jesus?"
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered.
Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with
that question burning and bouncing about in his soul:
"Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake us for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not?
To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference
as we live and interact with a world (shopping, working, reacting
to others that are serving us) that is blind to His love, life and grace.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would.
Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going
to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
We are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been
bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked
you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full,
for our damaged fruit.
Let us live like we are actually worth the price He paid.
~ Author Unknown ~ |
