-Unrecognized-

Have you ever been mistaken for someone else? A guy in South Carolina had one of those faces today. Seems a serial bank robber in the area resembled him, so at the behest of bank officials, police cornered the guy & wanted some answers. Apparently he was just a regular ‘Joe’ that just resembled the thief and was cleared.

I’ve had people ask me multiple times if I was ‘so and so.’ Makes me feel sorry for the poor shmucks that have a mug similar to mine! Unfortunately, I’ve been guilty of the, ‘aren’t you so and so’ myself.

As a worship leader, I have to begin work on Christmas, believe it or not, in July. So I have been fully immersed by now in the Christmas story & scriptures. One of the things that has caught my attention was the King of the Universe came to be one of us. Sadly, even the religious leaders didn’t recognize Him!

“He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:10-12 NLT

I suppose part of that might be in the presumption they had about how the Messiah or King would come. Even though the scriptures/prophecies had been very clear (over 300 of them), about how He would come, who would have thought the King of Glory would put aside His majesty & become a tiny helpless Babe? Apparently, few to none! The only folks who showed up got a special, Heavenly invitation or ‘birth announcement’!

The only other ‘wise guys’ who had actually paid attention & were looking for the promised Messiah showed up about 18 months late! That’s ok because it was all in God’s timing anyway. I suppose that’s the way it always is…in God’s timing.

Makes me stop & think: how often do I miss out on God because He visits me in ways I didn’t expect? Could it be that guy needing help I blew off was really an angel in disguise? Maybe the call or the request of my time was really God interrupting my ‘to do’ list with a ‘Divine Appointment.’

Gives us pause: are we really looking for God in the daily, hum drum of life? If not, I reckon we aught to be. Not preaching at you, mind you, just thinking out loud!
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ Matthew 25:40 NLT

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