PEACE BE UPON YOU THE PERIL OF FIRST IMPRESSION If not for second, third, fourth, etc. impressions that God allowed me in order to make amends, my first impression would have nailed me! First Impression can be informative, yes, but the absolute belief by many that first impression is the ONLY impression about a person does not allow them to move on patiently with others and tap from their strengths or strengthen them in the areas of their weaknesses. This leaves us with only the weaknesses or strengths of others - which could be both misleading and deceptive because we are all a sum of our strengths and weaknesses not just our strengths and not just weaknesses. I have had occasions when my first impression of others - both good and bad ones - saved me and other times, much more than the former, when I learned a lot from others who gave me a nightmarish first impression about themselves but later weighed in with jaw-dropping behavioural and attitudinal excellence. I would never otherwise have encountered the angels behind the terrible first impression or the devils behind the angelic first impression! Allowing people to tread through their weaknesses until they begin to manifest their strengths tasks the patience a great deal but, for the Christian who is constantly enjoying extra opportunities for improving his disastrous first impression, it is worth every minute it takes and pays back with interest. But in a world of gross impatience and mass rush, even the very wise miss a lot by accepting in toto this faulty human theory - that first is the best if not the only impression there is. When I give a wrong or bad first impression to people I may never have the chance to meet and give another impression of myself, I know I am in a mess. But where I have the chance to make another outing for a real and better impression, I remain hopeful. After all, most first impressions these days are doctored, conditioned, stage-managed, photo-shopped, masqueraded, disguised, and choreographed to achieve selfish objects and purposes. Check out what happens in business when a ‘Jezebel’ carries a smile for the purpose of giving an excellent first impression to clientele just to secure some dollars for the business, but becomes the real Jezebel later; and then an ‘angel’ who, experiencing a paroxysm of bad temper, shows his or her real humanity by displaying untoward attitude for a first impression and later shows his or her depth of goodness...our world of FAKE-PHILIA (my own coinage and means LOVE FOR THE FAKEN) will readily fall prey to the Jezebel and miss the Angel. This is in business, but I say it applies to the ordinary everyday life too. We lose far more than we gain when we dismiss men on the principle of first impression - we often throw away the baby with the bath water. Even God, who knows men before they open their lips in speech, offers us all the chance to show the goodness we have in us though we have not managed to give a good first impression of ourselves to Him. The heart of man is desperately wicked above all things, who can understand it! He decried our state. Yet He daily offers us the chance to show our likeness to him, his image in which He created us all. We too must go beyond the first impression principle when we can - and of course we can - and be enriched by the genuine goodness some of these impressions cover from our judgmental eyes. YES WE CAN! #JESUSorNothing
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 05:42:52 +0000
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