Making 7 Seconds Count ~ John 8:1-11

They kept asking him questions. So he stood up and said to them, "Has any one of you not sinned? Then you be the first to throw a stone at her."

John 8:7

Do you think of yourself as one who is quick to judge or are you slow to make judgments?

There was a study completed at the New York University School of Business which states that all people make eleven judgments in the first seven seconds of meeting someone. We deem a person’s wealth, education, creditability, trustworthiness, sophistication, sexual orientation, success level, political affiliation, ethnicity, social or professional desirability, and religious background. We determine all of this within the amount of time it takes an average person to draw a single breath.

This 11 in 7 rule as it is known is not unique to business students– this is everyone. We all do this. We all make snap decisions about everyone we meet or merely pass on the street. We predetermine our opinions or our thoughts toward another before he even opens her mouth. We judge without even realizing we are judging.

And often the first impression sticks.

Imagine….

You see a woman sitting on a bus bench with two kids with dirty faces and no shoes – what is your first thought?

You see a man entering a church with a tie carrying a jacket – what is your first thought?

You encounter a teenager with piercings in both ears and her nose, dressed entirely in black carrying a skateboard – what is your first thought?

We make judgments – quick and without thinking - and they often limit our ability to see the child of God in front of us.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

When they tossed her in front of him, I imagine him glancing at her briefly as they pose the question, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”. 

He doesn’t answer, he simply bends down and begins to write something in the sand before them. All of these men were learned – they could read and write and they would have been reading as Jesus wrote. The words were likely bold – maybe he was listing their sin; or maybe he was writing the Law in the sand – the rest of the story so to speak. Regardless of what he wrote, after a few moments he stands, lifting those deep, dark eyes to the accusers and says, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7)  

He drops this challenge like a gauntlet before returning to his sand writings. While he writes, the woman’s accusers slowly dwindle until all who remain are Jesus and the woman. He lifts those same brown eyes to her, this time likely filled with warmth and compassion as he straightens his body to standing saying, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

It is easy to make snap judgments – we were wired that way. We were designed to determine if someone might cause us harm or bring us joy – but or initial impression may cloud our view.

What is important is pushing through our first impressions to try and find the child of God beneath the surface. Our eyes need to be fit with the lens of compassion – to see the world as Jesus does – to be slow to judge but quick to justice.

We only get seven seconds to make a first impression.

How will you use yours – will you judge or will you stop and see what the Lord sees – His children in need of a compassionate hand. Will you be able to say, “The Lord hasn’t condemned you and neither do I”?

Quote of the Day

“The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world.”

Georgia Harkness 

Scripture

John 8:1-11 

Question of the Day 

What do you see when you see the world?