29Sep16

Luke 17:3-4 ESV
"Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Perceptions of people can be made or broken very quickly and very easily. Have you ever met someone and had an initial encounter that made you say, "I will never like that guy?" I did. I was at a training with a whole lot of other chaplains (a place where the world should somehow be better right?) and a guy in front of me got up and left his chair out in front of me. I pushed it back in under the table so people could move around it only to have the guy come back and stare me down. He said, "Don't. Ever. Touch. My. Chair." I thought he was joking so I chuckled a bit. But, he kept staring at me and repeated himself. My first impression... JERK! I didn't ask him why. I didn't rebuke him. I just formed my opinion and walked away.

Fast forward to a year later when I got a chance to work with this guy over a long period of time. He's now a good friend and one of the funniest guys I know. He would have my back no matter what and I would stand up for him. Somewhere along the line he explained how he is prone to doing things like the chair incident and I let it go. I forgave him. But, until I forgave him he was labeled. He was the Jerk. It wasn't until I forgave him that I found what was there below the surface... a friend. Who are you missing out on because of your first impression? What might be there right below forgiveness?