First Impressions

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
The old adage is correct and a bit daunting when you consider its truth.
The impression may be the physical way you present yourself.
It may be your demeanor and attitude.

Studies have been done to determine the timing of a first impression.
You have exactly 7 seconds to make a first impression.
What can you possibly discern in 7 seconds?
If we were honest, we would have to admit that a sizing up happens very quickly.

Friendly or stand-offish.
Quiet or loud.
Humble or self-righteous.
Kind or nasty.

Some of our assumptions may be totally wrong.
When we meet the person, we make an initial assessment.
Often, our first impressions are right on target.
However, we have to be willing to shift gears if we are wrong.

Years ago, there was a young man who was a stock boy at a local grocery store.
We always talked to each other when I shopped every Thursday.
He was tall, a bit awkward, clean-cut, and soft-spoken.
Our short, weekly conversations covered many topics.

One week, he admitted that he was lost; he didn’t know what to do with his life.
He didn’t want to be a stock boy forever but he didn’t like school.
Listening to his heart, I discovered that he loved art and seemed to be quite good.
I was part of a large church at the time, and knew his talents could be utilized there.

The church had Christmas and Easter programs to which the public was invited.
There was a need for people who could sing, act, draw, paint, design, and build.
I could draw, he told me.
You COULD draw? I asked, making sure he heard the past tense in his voice.

Well, I don’t get the chance to do it any more, but I like to…his voice trailed off.
Why don’t you come to my church and talk to someone?
I mentioned a young pastor’s name that worked with the youth at that time.
I know him! he said excitedly.

I never put all the pieces together as to how he knew the young pastor.
I didn’t care; a connection was made.
I knew his talents would be put to good use.

It was spring and in a few weeks it would be Easter.
I looked for this young man every Sunday but never saw him.
I was so sure that he would come.
To my delight, on Easter Sunday, he walked through the door.

He didn’t come in the back of the church and sit down without being noticed.
He came right across the front and spotted me as he entered.
I got up and walked towards him wondering if it was really him.
He looked quite different from the uniformed stock boy I saw each week.

He was dressed all in black.
His clean-cut hair was gelled, standing up on top of his head.
He had multiple chains hanging from his belt loop.
His shoes resembled army boots, his short sleeves revealed multiple tattoos.

I hugged him, genuinely delighted to see him there.
The artist.
The one who was lost.
The one who didn’t want to be a stock boy forever.

There he was under a very different facade.
This young man that stood in front of me did not look like the clean-cut stock boy.
I sat through the entire service, assessing my own heart.
I liked this young man of promise; clean cut or dressed in black with chains.

What if I met this young man while he was wearing his chains?
Would my first impression of him been the same?
If truth be told, probably not!
I wrestled with that fact all morning.

He was exactly the same young man.
He was just packaged differently.
He fit into some accepted mold on the one hand and pushed the envelope on the other.
Who determined the acceptability of the mold?

I watched him after the service as he approached the young pastor.
The pastor remembered him and hugged him warmly.
I knew that connections were made and an old friendship renewed.
I knew that this young man’s talent would be utilized and God would be glorified.

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

In our humanness, we measure a person by what we see on the outside.
We assess a person based on our first impressions.
We could be dead wrong in our assessment, but our first impression lasts.
Oh, how much we miss when we don’t look deeper.

This young man taught me so much.
He is a talented, capable person whether in a uniform or in black with chains.
His heart, slowly revealed to me, was entirely known by God.
God saw things I couldn’t possibly see with my limited vision.

How many hearts have I dismissed prematurely?
How many hearts have I not had the joy to know because of my first impression?
It was me that needed a reassessment that day.
I saw myself; all polished on the outside, but tarnished on the inside.

What if our first impression was simply seeing the image of God in the other person?
What if what we saw first was HIM?
If we dismissed the person standing before us, we would be dismissing Him.
Isn’t that what He told us?

The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Seven seconds to make a first impression.
Use those seven seconds to find HIM!