One day, I entered the pastor’s office at Beulah and discovered the phone wasn’t working. I tested the line outside and it worked. However, the inside line had static and no dial tone. A phone repairman came to find and fix the problem. He looked at the wiring inside the church. Some inside phone wiring had a dial tone, while another portion did not. The phone repairman went into a hardly used room, moved an old clothes rack in the corner and found where the problem was. As I stood there, I thought about how I had overlooked a problem that had been developing for several months or more. How many things or people do we overlook?

In Luke 19:1-10, there was a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and he was short in height. He heard Jesus was passing by, but there was a crowd. Zacchaeus knew he wouldn’t be able to see Jesus from ground level. He didn’t want to be overlooked again.

His community overlooked Zacchaeus because of his profession. A tax collector was considered to be an outsider. Nobody wanted to talk to him or spend time with him. Whether they were afraid he would collect their taxes or find fault with them, they chose to overlook him. Being overlooked isn’t a great feeling. We all want people to notice us and pay attention to us. This was the main reason Zacchaeus did something out of the box and climbed a sycamore tree: so Jesus would see him. Jesus passed by and saw Zacchaeus in the tree and Jesus told him to come down from the tree.  Jesus even told Zacchaeus he wanted to stay at his house the same day.

What an awesome day for Zacchaeus. When everyone overlooked him, Jesus saw him and spent time with him. Who knows what an impact that made on Zacchaeus’ life.

Who do we overlook? Sometimes, we overlook people because they are different from us. Sometimes, we overlook their ideas because it’s not how we’ve done it in the past. What if the very thing or person we overlook is the instrument in which God wants to use to bless us? Don’t overlook things or people, if you do you might miss your miracle, your soulmate or your next job. Spend some time with people, things and ideas you would normally ignore or overlook. 

I want to personally invite you to Beulah on 115 S. Main St. for our Family and Friends Day on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 11 a.m. There will be a lunch following our service. Come spend some time with us and you will be blessed!

Matthew Shannon is pastor of Beulah AME Church in Farmville. His email address is pastormatthew.shannon@gmail.com.