I see Jesus!

While doing my devotions this morning, I was struck by this phrase: "When the people recognized Jesus..." I mean how did they recognize Him? Had they seen his picture on the evening news? Did they see his latest sermon on youtube? No, of course not! They hadn't even seen a photo of Him, because the camera had not yet been invented. So how is it that they recognized Him?

I think two things come into play here: 1- the people were talking, and everyone knows that word of mouth is the best advertisement! and 2- they recognized the face of hope, the face of salvation, because we all long for that.

The people were talking, and what a challenge to us today! We have so many more resources than the people of Jesus' day had. They didn't have facebook, twitter, blogspots, newspapers, televisions, youtube, etc... and yet they managed to spread the word about Jesus. It should be so much easier for us to spread the message. So my challenge here is simple, who are you going to tell today? D.L. Moody never went to bed until he had shared God's word with at least one person. Will you agree to do the same? I am going to give it a try!

They recognized the face of hope, the face of salvation! I know I have shared this analogy before but I can't resist the truth of it so here it comes again! Matthew 5 tells us that we are a city on a hill, that CANNOT be hidden. Think about the light of a flashlight, if you look at it, even in the daytime, you can see the light coming out. That is how we, as believers should be, when people look at us they should see the face of Jesus, shining through. But, you and I know that the world is not always "daytime." In fact, there is much darkness in the world we live in. Let's think about that same flashlight on a dark, moonless night. Your eyes are drawn to the light it sheds, you cannot help but seek it out. That, too is how we as believers should be, when the world around us is walking in darkness, their eyes will be drawn to the light of Christ in us, they won't be able to help it! And then we can be ready to give an answer for the hope that lives within us. (1 Peter 3:15) My second challenge is as simple as the first, be the light of Jesus today!