Although in most cases from a Christian perspective, impulsivity needs to be kept in check, there is such a thing as a good kind of impulsivity. We see such “blessed impulsiveness” in the Apostle Peter and in the other Apostles who left their nets to follow Christ. There was no careful weighing the proposition or slowness to move, but instead a ready, cheerful, almost instantaneous wholehearted obedience. “They did not delay, they did not procrastinate, they did not say, ‘Let’s return home and talk about it with our relatives,’ but ‘they forsook all and followed,’ even as Elisha did to Elijah. Christ desires for us to have this kind of obedience, so that we do not delay for even a moment” (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 14 on Matthew).

This kind of “impulsiveness,” furthermore, brought about a beautiful transformation. Throughout Scripture, we see other examples of this blessed impulsiveness: “For if the graceless soul obeys God it puts off its ungracefulness, and becomes full of grace. ‘Saul! Saul!’ it was said, ‘why persecutest thou me?’ and he replied ‘and who art Thou Lord?’ ‘I am Jesus.’ And he obeyed, and his obedience made the graceless soul full of grace. Again, He says to the publican ‘Come follow me’ and the publican rose up and became an apostle: and the graceless soul became full of grace. How? By obedience. Again He said to the fishermen ‘Come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men;’ and by their obedience their minds became full of grace” (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 2, on Eutropius).

On the other hand, there are also examples in the Gospel of those who carefully weigh their choices, choose wrongly, and would have been better to follow their first enthusiasm like the young rich man who asked what he should do to attain eternal life...

For those who are impulsive, it is certainly worthwhile to cultivate the positive traits of the functionally impulsive, namely optimism, maintaining a high energy level, and taking a risk when it comes to following the way of Christ. Responding to God immediately or straightway (εὐθέως) as the Apostles did is a powerful virtue that contains within it, humility, hope, obedience, and love. Going the extra-mile, turning the other cheek, and being a cheerful giver are examples of letting blessed impulses guide us. Those impulses certainly need to be cultivated. And they are certainly functional in so far as they have the function of keeping us on the path that leads directly to the kingdom of heaven.