Hey, It’s Me!

Have you ever not recognized yourself in a photo?  Recently I was looking at a website when I caught a glimpse of someone who looked kind of familiar. I slipped on my glasses to take a closer look and zoomed in on the nametag they were wearing.  “Hey! it’s me”!  The picture was not out of focus or distorted, I just didn’t recognize myself.  How ridiculous!  In fact, I don’t even remember the event at which the picture was apparently taken!  A startling admission. Do I need an eye exam?   A cognitive exam?  A mirror? 

The whole hilarious episode made me think of the passage in scripture when King David didn’t recognize himself either.  You may remember the story in 2 Samuel 12.  Nathan the prophet came to King David and told him about a rich man who had taken his poor neighbor’s only lamb to slaughter instead of one of the many from his own flock.  Hearing about this great injustice, David was outraged!  He demanded that the rich man be killed.  Then Nathan turns to David and says, “Thou art the man”!  (This is where I envision Nathan pointing a long, boney, accusatory finger at him).  David didn’t recognize himself in the story.  But, there was no denying it.  David had many wives, yet he took his friend’s wife, slept with her, and then had his friend killed off to cover it up after she became pregnant.   When confronted by Nathan, David did repent but there were lasting consequences.

The Bible always tells us the good, the bad, and the ugly about everyone, even our Bible “Heroes”.  I like that.  Somehow it’s encouraging to know they weren’t perfect. The Bible also reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly about us if we’re willing to receive it. 

Here’s what I mean. Have you ever sat in church, enjoyed the worship, smiled at the interesting illustrations, and listened to the Word being taught, but then walked out of there literally unchanged?  Why is that?  How is that possible?  Maybe sometimes our mind is distracted or preoccupied and we just sort of “zone out” for a while.  Maybe we are hearing, but not really listening. Or, maybe like David, we don’t recognize ourselves in the story.   Hmmm…

When we read our Bibles, or daily devotions, when we sit in church and listen; instead of zoning out, if we zoom in a bit, who knows?  We may be surprised to discover, ”Hey, it’s me”!  

“But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the Word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.”  

James 1:22-24 NLT