Has Anyone Ever Mistaken You for “Jesus?”

This is a story floating around on the internet that blessed us & we wanted to pass it on. Now that the holidays have passed it is easy to go back to thinking of our self & our own problems instead of keeping that attitude of reaching out to others that is often displayed in November & December. This story is a nice reminder. . .

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 & brief-cases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one. He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, & experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple st& had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved goodbye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination & 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, & at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping, & no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets, & helped set the display up once more. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered & bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet & said to the girl, “Here, please take this $20 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 & turned to look back into those blind eyes.

She continued, “Are you Jesus?”

He stopped in mid-stride, & he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning & bouncing about in his soul: “Are you Jesus?”

Do people mistake you for Jesus?

That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live & interact with a world that is blind to His love, life & grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk & act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture & going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing & picked you & me up on a hill called Calvary & paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Let us live like we are worth the price He paid.

— Author Unknown