Lasting Impressions

                First impression lasts longer, sometimes even

forever, we may say and that means we have to be very careful how we approach people for the first time.

When I first went to my fiancée’s home, I was a stranger to strange people. The only person I knew was my fiancée. Nervous as I was, I took myself, to his doorstep by faith without any clue of what to expect. It would have been easier for me if I went with my sister as my mom had suggested, but she was busy in school and I didn’t wanna disturb her. It would also have been easier if I had travelled all the way with the one person I knew there, but he was there already. To add salt to injury, it was my first time in this region of the country. The risk I took was not a small one for me, but I was impressed that my mother in law recognized me and welcomed me while at their center all smiles as she was doing her last minute shopping for breakfast for I was there early. Smiling and warm, I already knew I was safe and welcomed here. By the time she was home after my arrival, I was like…”I think I have met you before”. First impressions last, for to this day, I have not rubbed the experience I had with her day one.
I know and well understand that many have also met me in my worst state and carried me in their hearts as a gloomy and cold hearted being, different from my mother in law, who by the way to this day I have never seen her gloomy or frustrated. She is ever in high spirits; I wonder how she manages to live so…no wonder she does not grow old. Right?
The woman at the well also meets Jesus, a stranger at a strange hour and strange place, but in the end, she is glad to have met this man, he had left a lasting impression on her.
Mary Magdalene, the woman that was delivered from seven demons by Jesus also lived to know Jesus after meeting him as a warm and loving savior.
The woman with the issue of blood is also a witness to Jesus’ saving hand. And she can testify to God’s love and power after being healed when she met Jesus first time.
Others though, had to try harder to see God differently.
The man laying at the pool of Bethesda for 38years sick had known Jesus on a bad light to a point of blaming everyone every time that he had no one to push him to the water when the angel stirred it, yet all he needed is the faith of Jesus. And when asked what he wanted, instead of going straight to his issue like Batimaeus, he gives his history and why he cannot be healed. What a hopeless man.
Judas on the other hand, first met Jesus with the ambition of being a money handler/ treasurer in the kingdom Jesus would set, he saw the earthly opportunities rather than the love Christ was offering in return. It’s no wonder he couldn’t forgive himself for what he did.
Now then, what will strangers who meet you say about you if they were given a chance to describe you? What impressions do you leave those you meet for whatever reasons whenever? Because it’s not easy to redeem yourself later from whatever impression you had shown on people you met. I am a witness to this you know. Are you a missionary seasonally?
Young Timothy puts it clearly: “preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”.
What is your story? Please share with us an experience you had that you have it in your heart to this day.