“ Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about the speck in your friends’ eye when you have a log in your own.” Matthew 7:1-3

 First impressions are powerful. We all have them. We meet someone and sometimes we size them up pretty quickly. It is not always fair. This week I have been thinking about first impressions and the wisdom to know that people can change, they don’t become perfect, but they do become perhaps gentler and humbler. They have learned to listen more and talk a bit less. Whatever the case, people do change- some sadly become worse but some become better. They realize the truth of how they have been treating people and choose to change.

 This past week I saw a young man who used to be arrogant . He was unwilling to listen and heed the advice he asked for. He must have figured some things out. It has been a few years since I had seen him, and I could see that this young man had changed. I watched him as he interacted with people, listening to them and it was evident how gracious he was. I was impressed.

 We make first impressions every single day, standing in a line waiting your turn at the grocery store to how we interact at a social gathering.

 Matthew reminds us to be careful how we judge and that we all have a plank of some kind in our own eye. This plank skews our view and thereby making clear perceptions, difficult. There is a very good reason we need to be quick to extend grace with people and slower to cast hard and fast judgement. One reason, we could be wrong and the other is simply, we can be guilty of the very same thing that irks you!

Let’s not hang too tightly to first impressions. Let’s choose rather to extend that same grace we all hope will be extended to us.

 Dear Father,

Thank you for your love and the way you love me. Help me love those around me and extend your grace. Help me let go of the bias I have held onto where that is needed.

In Jesus Name,

Amen