First Impressions?

It only takes a few seconds for our brains to unconsciously decide whether we will trust or like that other person. It’s called ‘first impressions.’  We take in how that person is dressed, the way he stands, the expression on her face -  and choose to engage or ignore. If your reaction to that statement  is ‘not me, Jerry,’ you are not being honest with yourself.  The conclusions that we make in that moment, persist long after we have come to know the person better.

Here is the good news - we are able to make a choice to take a second look and get to know a person’s true character.  First impressions are made without thought, people deserve more!  This does not mean we abandon discernment, that we lose the ability to hold others accountable for their actions.  Our high calling is to approach people with a loving spirit, expecting the best of them, not the worst.  We make the choice to give more thought to the opinion formed in a moment.

Here’s how Jesus talks about the importance of that second look - “Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?" (Matthew 7:1-3, NLT) 

In Sunday School, I learned a story of real drama about how to look at people.  Our memory verse for the lesson stuck with me all these years. “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.” (1 Samuel 16:7, NLT)   Here is the context.  Samuel, the prophet, was told by God to find and anoint the next king of Israel. Led by Spirit, he went to Bethlehem, to the home of Jesse.

When he saw the first born son, Eliab, he immediately concluded that he had found the king! The young man was confident,  accustomed to making decisions, and looked like a leader.  As the prophet readied the anointing oil, the Spirit spoke to his heart, ‘not that one!’  He met the next, then the next - seven of Jesse’s sons.   “The Lord has not chosen any of these. Are these all the sons you have?”

Jesse told him of one last son, the youngest, apparently of little standing in the family, left out to tend the sheep!  That teenager’s name was David, a ‘man with God’s own heart,’  who would become the poet-king of Israel.

Aren’t you glad that God looks past our failures, our weaknesses, our bumbling and fumbling, our natural skills, our intelligence – right into our heart? I am!  He reads my intention, knows my motives, and calls me higher.  He extended the gift of favor to me, making me a member of His family, not because I impressed Him, but because He loved me. 

Though we were "dead in (our) transgressions and sins," (Ephesians 2:1, NIV)  "because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…  it is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:4-5, NIV)  "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10, NIV) 

Graced, we need to be grace-filled, willing to take a second look, to revise our opinion of others beyond our first impressions.

John teaches us that because we are loved, we will love. A Christian who looks at others judgmentally, who lays a harsh application of rigid rules on others, who just ‘knows’ that the other guy is a worthless piece of trash – needs a love infusion, reminded again that  “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-8, NIV)

Is there someone who needs a second look from you, a person about whom you have made a judgement, someone you have written off as hopeless or worthless? Pray for grace and wisdom, to look, like God, at the heart of those with whom you live.

The word from the Word is a repeat of a passage with which I started this CoffeeBreak. May the Spirit make it living truth for us today. “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. " (Matthew 7:1-3, The Message)

(Video of this blog at this link)

_____________________________

Give Me Your Eyes

Look down from a broken sky

Traced out by the city lights

My world from a mile high

Best seat in the house tonight

Touch down on the cold black top

Hold on for the sudden stop

Breathe in the familiar shock

Of confusion and chaos

All those people going somewhere

Why have I never cared

 

Give me Your eyes for just one second

Give me Your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten

Give me Your eyes so I can see

 

Step out on the busy street

See a girl and our eyes meet

Does her best to smile at me

To hide what's underneath

There's a man just to her right

Black suit and a bright red tie

Too ashamed to tell his wife

He's out of work he's buying time

All those people going somewhere

Why have I never cared

 

I've been here a million times

A couple of million eyes

Just move and pass me by

I swear I never thought that I was wrong

Well I want a second glance

So give me a second chance

To see the way You've seen the people all along

 

Brandon Heath | Jason Ingram

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