No Introduction Needed
This year we're collaborating with writers across the Augustine Collective, a network of student-led Christian journals, to bring you a series of short devotional articles during this season of Lent, the 40-day period prior to Easter. Find this series also published by UChicago's CANA Journal and UC Berkeley's TAUG.
by avery kishimoto, uc berkeley
I am not the biggest fan of first impressions. Meeting new people is already nerve-wracking, and having someone’s judgement of me be built on a single conversation adds a whole other level of pressure. I see the immense value in new connections, but I’d be remiss to say that the first steps in the process aren’t difficult at times.
This delicate art of introductions got easier as I entered college. After freshman orientation, checking out fellowships and clubs, and meeting my classmates in lecture, there came to be a rhythm to meeting people. We, as students, have all been subject to it and perpetrators of it: the age-old “What’s your major?”, “Where are you from?”, “Where are you dorming?”. I came to develop a script, polished with quaint anecdotes and fun asides. And while it became less stressful over time, there was often an air of performativity in this streamlined exchange; something about it felt inauthentic. Perhaps the awkward silences, tripped-over words, and meandering thoughts made conversations authentic in the first place.
However, none of these intricate issues of first impressions exist in our relationship with God. There is no need for name tags, icebreakers, or rehearsed introductions. We don’t approach Him like we do a stranger sitting next to us in lecture. As Psalm 139 reminds us, He is the One who created our inmost being. He knows our thoughts before we think them and our words before we say them. He’s present through the darkest depths and above the highest peaks. We can come to Him in prayer and worship with complete authenticity, because we have nothing to hide. Our God is not distant or unfamiliar, but He is close and personal and already knows us more deeply than anyone could.
Psalm 81:9-10 recalls this truth:
“There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not worship a foreign god.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said,
‘Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.’”
Verse 10 serves as a reminder to us of who God is. This is the God of Exodus 12, when the Israelites were protected during the first Passover and ultimately delivered from slavery in Egypt. It was only by the blood of a lamb without blemish that the firstborn sons of Israel were spared, demonstrating God’s mercy and provision for His people. In the same way, God, who knows us intimately, including our sinful nature, saw our desperate need for deliverance. As He was ready and attentive to fill the open mouths of the Israelites, so too has He provided for us the ultimate sacrifice by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, as the Passover Lamb. Jesus was without blemish, yet He bore the excruciating weight of humanity’s sin on the cross, so that we may be spared from death and given new life.
So in this season of Lent, let us rejoice in this: God is deeply acquainted with our innermost thoughts, struggles, and needs. In His immeasurable grace, He saw us in our sin and sent His faultless Son as the atoning sacrifice for us. Let us remove distractions and fix our eyes on the truth of the Gospel. Unlike the rigid scripts or polished introductions we rely on in first impressions, we can come before His throne without pretense or performance. We approach with open mouths and open hearts, as God commanded Israel, trusting that the One who delivered His people from Egypt and sent the Passover Lamb will fill us in our weakness. In His presence, there is no need to conceal the brokenness we carry because God, who sees us and our needs, is ready to provide as He has faithfully done time and time again. What a gift it is to be fully known by Him.
Avery is a freshman studying Psychology at UC Berkeley. She hopes that, if this is your first impression of her, a love for God is the first thing you notice about her.