Wednesday Aug.19, 2026
LOOK TWICE
Scripture: John 1:11–12
Reflection: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him…he gave the right to become children of God. There is something about this verse that has always bothered me. The people who should have recognized Jesus didn’t. They knew the Scriptures. They knew the promises. They had heard about the Messiah their entire lives. Then God showed up and they missed Him. Maybe the problem wasn’t that they weren’t looking for God. Maybe the problem was that they had already decided what God was supposed to look like. They were expecting power and they got a baby. They were expecting a king and they got a carpenter. They expected someone who would spend time with the right people and Jesus ate with sinners, touched lepers, welcomed children, talked with outsiders, and made room for people everyone else had pushed aside. Jesus rarely met people’s expectations, but He always seemed to meet people exactly where they needed Him. And I wonder if we sometimes do the same thing today. We know Jesus. We read about Jesus. We worship Jesus. We sing about Jesus. But could we still miss Him? Sometimes I think we create a picture of Jesus that looks a lot like us. Jesus agrees with my opinions. Jesus likes the people I like. Jesus is suspicious of the people I’m suspicious of. Jesus supports my side of the argument. And before long, instead of allowing Jesus to change me, I’ve created a Jesus who seems to always agree with me. That’s why I think we need to learn to do something simple. We need to look twice. Look twice at the person we normally walk past. Look twice at the person who gets on our nerves. Look twice at the person whose politics are completely different from ours. Look twice at the person whose life is messy. Look twice at the person who doesn’t look like you, think like you, talk like you, or believe like you. Look twice at the person you’ve already labeled. Because behind every label is a person. A person with a story. A person carrying something you probably don’t know about. A person created in the image of God. And a person Jesus loves. Maybe the person I have the hardest time seeing Jesus in is exactly the person Jesus is asking me to see differently. That’s also where prevenient grace becomes important. Prevenient grace is God’s grace that goes before us. Before we ever thought about looking for God, God was already looking for us. Looking back, some of us can probably see those moments now. A person who showed up at just the right time. A conversation we needed or a door that opened. At the time, we may have called it coincidence. Looking back, maybe we can see grace. And here’s what challenges me, If God’s grace was working in my life before I recognized it, couldn’t God’s grace also be working in someone else’s life before I recognize it? Maybe my job isn’t always to bring Jesus into someone’s life. Maybe sometimes my job is to discover that Jesus got there before I did.
Consider This:
- Think of one person you normally overlook, avoid, or have difficulty understanding. Don’t try to fix them or debate them. Just see them and listen to their story. Then pray, “Jesus, help me see this person the way You do.”
- Look twice. The person you almost overlooked may be someone Jesus has been loving all along.
Prayer: Jesus, forgive me for the times I’ve been so certain about what You should look like that I’ve missed what You were doing right in front of me. Help me slow down and look twice. Help me see beyond labels, politics, mistakes, appearances, and my own assumptions. Thank You for the grace that came looking for me before I ever knew to look for You. Help me remember that Your grace is already at work in the lives of people around me. Give me eyes to see them, ears to hear them, and a heart willing to love them. Make me a little more like You today. Amen.