PASTOR’S CORNER: A good reputation

Writer Dave Branon said “A good reputation with unbelievers and a faithful witness are hard to maintain. But at the same time, believers in Jesus can grow to be more like him as He helps and guides us.”

My friends, this morning we are all called as Christians to have a good reputation, among unbelievers and people in general. There is no better way to be a good witness for Christ. Light always shines brightest in the dark. I want to say that nothing is better than having a good reputation. It will carry you places, open good doors, give you favor among men and women, and take you places you thought you’d never go.

Your words carry weight, people will listen to you when you have a good reputation. Folk will respect you when you have a good reputation. A good reputation will follow you for the rest of your life. It will determine where you go in life, and at some point in your life, you are going to need it. What we do, what we say, our conduct and our attitude are our reputations. Day by day, week by week, as we travel through life, we are all building a reputation among our family, friends, our church, and the people we know. We need to think about that now.

Community, somewhere in life something will happen to us due to no fault of our own, and ONLY a good reputation will save us in that moment. It will speak for us. See, we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7); and how we live, what we do, how we act, how we talk, and our attitudes will one day speak for us. We are going to look back over our lives and either feel great or will have a spirit of regret over our reputation in what we have built.

Now, Christians, we need to have a good reputation for Christ. We just can’t do anything, act any kind of way, do things that we know are wrong and expect to have a good reputation. It will follow us everywhere we go. You can’t outrun it. It will precede us and be where we are going before we get there.

The questions that we all need to ask ourselves are, what do my family think about my reputation; my spouse, my children, my siblings; what do people who know me think about my reputation; what do my fellow church members think about my reputation; what kind of reputation do I have among those that I work with, those in my neighborhood, my neighbors; and then what does God think about my reputation? He sees me when nobody else does. These are questions that I ask all of us to ask ourselves.

None of us are perfect and that’s not the issue. The issue is what kind of reputation am I building for Christ? Our reputation influences others, the people in our circle and those that know us. You can talk to people and they will listen when you have a good reputation. People will value your opinion and they will trust you when your reputation is good. They may not like you when you have a good reputation but they will respect you!

A bad reputation will follow us too. Like a shadow in sunlight, you can’t get rid of it. Many a person who has served time in jail or prison, got in trouble and closed the window of opportunity has in tears suffered the consequences of having a bad reputation. Some people can’t get a loan, can’t buy a car, can’t get a good job, nobody wants to do them any favors, doors are closed shut, don’t have good friends, and nobody will speak up for them and nobody has anything good to say about you. People don’t trust you, and life takes a nose dive, and when you die nobody doesn’t really care.

All of us need to strive to have a good reputation, and one way to have a good reputation is to have integrity. The definition of the word “integrity” means “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change.” This ought to speak to every Christian. There are certain things that we have strong moral convictions about that we will not change! All of us ought to want to have that. When our name is mentioned we don’t want folk to look funny or frown up or their facial expression changes. Then they’ll know that there’s a dead cat on the line.

When you have integrity you don’t deal under the table. You don’t lie to get food stamps. We try to keep our word. We don’t park in the handicapped parking even if we have a handicap sticker that is not ours and we are not handicapped with two good legs while somebody who really needs it can’t get in and has to struggle to walk from a distance; integrity! We don’t take something that doesn’t belong to us! We don’t break the law; we are law-abiding citizens. We have a good reputation!

Jesus said “Let your light so shine before men that they may SEE your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Satan can lie on you, but nobody will believe it when you have a good reputation. You don’t have to defend yourself; your reputation will speak for you; the Lord will bless your socks off when you have a good reputation; Let’s have a good reputation for Jesus Christ.