First Impressions and Judgment

[HKHaugan]

First impressions, do you have them? What is more important, do you believe them and act them out? I believe it takes years of faith to undo 'first-impression' conditioning. First impressions are our immediate judgments based on a variety of factors like, regional origin, ethnic bias, national heritage, physical appearance, accents, our primary assumptions of the moment and my general comfort zone wherever I am. We have born into us the gift of judgment and the question is, what are we doing with it from day to day?

There is so much that can be said about judgment. But the bottom line is this: the heart of judgment is the heart out of which it comes. It is the condition of our heart that determines the nature of judgment, the experience of judgment and the result of judgment.

Let’s look first at the nature of judgment. Judgment is built into each of us. It's spiritual, personal and relational. No matter what we do, every situation demands a choice, a decision and a response in those three areas. That process is a moment to moment demand using those three functions we were born with as images of God. We evaluate it with our mind, process it attitudinally in our hearts and then respond by acting out what we believe is the best alternative.

Judgment is a constant and ongoing process that involves every moment of our being. It is built into us, into everyone, and dominates every interaction from relationships to our involvement in the whole of our world experience. There is nothing that does not require judgment. Every next moment contains a judgment of some kind. Even not making a judgment is a judgment.

But, in the final analysis, it is the heart that wins out. Attitude is shaped by the heart. Where the heart is spiritually determines its attitude. A sinful heart is self centered and every attitude proceeding from it will show it. A heart centered in Christ will reflect Him and be directed by the Holy Spirit. It's that simple.

The insight of Jesus about the human heart is not only perfectly perceptive, it's truth penetrates the most hardened heart. Take His description in Mark 7 listing a string of its negative products: “...out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly (Mk.7:21-22).” Sin is their source. And those ingredients make up a recipe for cooking our first impressions of the people we meet. What we really need to grasp here is this describes all of us who are saved and unsaved, the two great classes of humanity. We all have sin shaped hearts.

On the other hand if we are in Jesus and He is in us, our first impressions will be challenged in every next moment by a contrary reality that says: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal.5:22).” And why? Because every person born into this world is an image of God (Gen.1:26-27). Yes, they are fallen just like me but still an image of God and to be evaluated as such regardless of their appearance, behavior and especially our first impressions. What this says is that we need to be humble but not in the 'milquetoast' way. Our humility is before God in the presence of others, not humble for self-centered reasons so that we look good. Our immediate assessment is Spirit motivated. All people are images of God and need that as our first assessment when we meet anyone.

That just about covers it all doesn't it?

When Jesus talks about judgment it's in terms of how we see God, see ourselves in relationship to Him and then see ourselves in relationship to others; how we look at someone (first impression or image of God?), evaluate them and make a conclusion about them. Again, this means it is attitudinal, a matter of the heart. And, if our judgment is not guided spiritually based on His leading, He warns about the danger it poses for the one who judges. It will definitely backfire (Mt.7:1-2). How we judge will result in how we will be judged, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Mt.12:36-37).”

Secondly, our experience of worldly judgment is in its overwhelming by moment-by-moment demand. We get up in the morning. The specifics that face us; work, family, life ahead in every next moment. In one sense we are under constant surveillance by the world around us. When we were young we came under the scrutiny of whatever local group was setting the behavior model. Woe to those who don't look the part. This goes on into adulthood where we just sophisticate the means by which we 'fit in.'

Thirdly, what are the results of world judgment and its rules in general? Is there any relief, any hope of finally having some sense of freedom from it? Then, of course, is the motivation behind all the 'fitting in' –- fear. Fear of being alone, of isolation, of alienation and the fear of failure, loss of self worth, living a meaningless existence. As far as personal judgment is concerned do we come being our own worst enemy? If the secular world sets the standards, we lose no matter how high we rise in its estimation. Actually the world has no substance. Anything with fear at its source is neither personal nor lasting. It is not personal, caring or true. Self dependent judgment and world judgment are lonely, dark and invisible caves in which only fear energizes every step.

Spiritual judgment is thinking spiritually, letting the Holy Spirit bring the Lord Jesus into the picture and giving us not a trial and error experience but a faith upon faith experience. That is, we turn things over to faith in Jesus and then step out to every next moment in that experience. The real deal is consciously thinking Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit retrain our first impression to be His first impression.