First Impressions

I'd like to thank a friend for inspiring this blog with his sermon.

A girl stands alone. She wears black clothes and lipstick. Streaks of hot pink blend with her dark brown hair. Her lip is pierced. What are you thinking?

A man stands in a group. He appears to be the center of attention. His hair is cut in a modern style. His attire consists of a fitting t-shirt and jeans, all labeled Abercrombie and Fitch. What are you thinking?

A woman wears a suit and carries a briefcase. Her hair is pulled back in a tight bun. She frowns. What are you thinking?

I learned an interesting fact during my social psychology class (actually, I learned several, but those are for other blogs). In a fraction of  a second--not even a whole second--we make snap judgments about people. Sadly, our minds do not easily change. According to my textbook, some brilliant psychologists did a study and found that even when their subjects had an unlimited time to judge pictures of unfamiliar faces, the verdicts were the same as the ones different people made in a tenth of a second. These faces were appraised for trustworthiness, competence, likability, aggression and attractiveness. Only one of these attributes can truly be evaluated in less than a second: attractiveness. The rest are assumptions. What's worse is that we act on these assumptions.

James 2:1-4 says, "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?"

The story of the Good Samaritan tells us that everyone is our neighbor and that we are to love our neighbor. So that teenage boy that keeps making snide comments ahead of us in line? He's our neighbor. That woman who's using food stamps? She's our neighbor. That couple whose affection makes us think, get a room? They're our neighbors. We know God loves them. Why shouldn't we?

Is there anyone if your life that would be absent if you'd acted on your first impression?