Are YOU...
Jesus?
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
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. Well, as such things
go, one thing led to another. The sales meeting lasted longer than
anticipated.
Their flights were scheduled to leave out of Chicago's O'Hare
Airport, and they had to race pell-mell to the airport. With tickets
in hand, they barged through the terminal to catch their flight back
home. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, 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 and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl
whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on
without him and 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
floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl at the apple stand 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 or to care for
her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put
them into the baskets, and helped set the display up once more. As he
did this, he noticed that many of them had become 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 $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 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 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
and interact with a world 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.
You 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.
THANK YOU, JESUS.
convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be
home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. Well, as such things
go, one thing led to another. The sales meeting lasted longer than
anticipated.
Their flights were scheduled to leave out of Chicago's O'Hare
Airport, and they had to race pell-mell to the airport. With tickets
in hand, they barged through the terminal to catch their flight back
home. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, 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 and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl
whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on
without him and 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
floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl at the apple stand 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 or to care for
her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put
them into the baskets, and helped set the display up once more. As he
did this, he noticed that many of them had become 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 $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 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 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
and interact with a world 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.
You 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.
THANK YOU, JESUS.
