Looks Can Be Deceiving

Q: "Where does the best, natural non-fat cow's milk come from?"

A: "The Philippines. Ever notice how thin cows in the Philippines are? How naturally non-fat can you get?"

Even my daughter, who usually approves everything I say, thinks this joke is corny - to say the least. My wife denies knowing me when I tell this joke.

I don't know why I tell it in the first place.

We live in a world of "first impressions". We act and/or react based on what we initially see.

But I have lived and experienced enough to know that a first impression is - and must remain to be - just that. A first impression. To think a person is one or the other without sitting down with him or her - without "experiencing" him or her - is not wise.

I have met "common, simple people" -- drivers, beggars, garbage collectors, security guards and others -- who were not only kind, but were very Christian in their outlook in life. Almost ten years ago, I rode on the back of a tricycle on my way to the pick-up point of our company shuttle. I had to move in closer to the driver, because I could swear that I heard praises coming from him. And sure enough, he was praising. "Thank you Lord sa magandang araw ngayon..." "Thank you Lord at may pasahero akong nakuha..." He was praising God for almost everything that we would ordinarily have taken for granted. At one point he even praised the Lord that the brakes on his tricycle worked well.

I have met people who initially came across as being rude, uncouth and even downright uneducated - but I am now good friends with them - and they have proven to be the most faithful - and in some ways the wisest - of friends.

But it works the other way too.

Have you ever heard someone say something like: "It doesn't matter what people think -- this is what I am... this is who I am" or "You shouldn't think too much about what other people think of you", or some other similar phrase.

Do you agree? I used to agree with this. I mean, why should I care what people think, for as long as I am doing right... uh, right?

Wrong.

Christians MUST always be aware of what people think of them - simply because Christians are called Christians because (presumably) they follow the teachings of Christ. So it matters what people think of us - and we SHOULD care - because we live, as I said earlier, in a "world of first impressions".

So, regardless of whether the best non-fat cows milk comes from the thin, fat-less cows of the Philippines or not, we must remember two things. First, that we should be gentle enough on others such that the impression they give of themselves will never be the measure by which we relate to them, and, second, that we should be hard enough on ourselves to always be on our toes to present the best of our individual Christianity and therefore ensure that people "hear, see and feel the life and Spirit of Jesus in us".

Mooooo...