Pass Him By

“How shall I describe this generation?” 

Matthew 11:16

God meets us where we are. He welcomes and loves us whatever kind of person we are. He goes down to our level. We are the ones who reject Him because in His love for us, He gave us freedom to reject Him. Jesus compared us to children in the public square, complaining, “We played wedding songs and you refused to be happy, so we played funeral songs, but you were not sad.”

This reminds me of an experiment conducted in JAN. 12, 2007 in the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station in Washington DC. Joshua Bell, a renowned world-class virtuoso played his handcrafted 1713 Stradivarius violin worth $3.5 million dollars for 45 minutes. He performed 6 intricate Bach pieces. Most people rushed by. They were busy getting to work, to school, carrying bags and packages. Very few slowed down even for a short time. Several children would stop, entranced, but they were all, without exception, pulled by their harassed parents, to move on. He earned $32.17 for his efforts. Only 27 people dropped some money in appreciation out of 1097 people who passed. Only 7 people stopped and only 1 recognized him. It is ironic that the same Joshua Bell played 3 days earlier in a Symphony Hall where people paid $100 a seat. 

How many of us stop, look and listen when God shows us His face? How many of us recognize Him and His thumbprints all around us? Are we too busy, too preoccupied, too stressed that we just pass Him by, and don’t see, or feel His love? God serenades us with love songs every single day and we just pass Him by with nary a glance.