Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Exodus 2:14, “Then he said, ‘Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ So Moses feared and said, ‘Surely this thing is known.'”

Background

You get only one chance to make a first impression. We’ve all heard that line before. Advertisers have used it for years to coerce us to buy their grooming products. We’re warned of the horrors of meeting someone new with our hair not perfectly styled or our face not made up just right. With the return of many of our kids back to school recently, I bet thousands of moms prepped their children with the advice to do good and be good because of the monumental first impression they were about to make on their new teachers. Well, impressions can be important, and I don’t want to dismiss their role or value. But I think the more relevant issue at hand is the lasting impact that we make. Take Moses, for example. For forty years he was raised in the house of Pharaoh, learning the ways of Egypt and being groomed to be a leader. And when he finally decides to come out among his Hebrew people, the first thing he does is break up a fight by killing an Egyptian. Now, that certainly is not the first impression that we would want to make.

Application

But is it surprising? Moses was trained for forty years in the house of the man who decreed that all newborn Hebrew males should be killed. Perhaps anger and violence was much of what he had seen all those years, and they certainly had made an impact on his life. So when he makes his debut among the people, the first impression he makes flows naturally from what had impacted his entire life. And it certainly impacted the men he met. One was murdered, and the two Hebrews he encountered the second day mocked him for his arrogance and hypocrisy for trying to settle their argument after he had killed someone the day before. The impact was so severe that Moses fled for his life and lived for another forty years in the land of Midian. So, guard your steps, and always be aware. Impressions are important. But realize that you are impacting the people around you long after you impress them. So, watch out for what impacts you. Yours is not the only life being changed.

Charge

As we seek Him today, reconsider the areas of your life that you think are harmless. Examine their effects to see if they are a little more questionable than you first thought.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words