My Reputation

A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold.

Proverbs 22:1 NAS95

A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth.

Ecclesiastes 7:1 NAS95

A man is at a job fair and approaches a table where he hands in his resume. The recruiter looks it over and offers an immediate interview. After a few questions, he pulls out a glass that is half full of water and asks, “What can you tell me about this glass? The man thinks about the old “Is it half full or half empty” routine and decides to say “Well sir, that glass is full.” Immediately the recruiter sticks out his hand and says, “Welcome to Lays!”

My nine-year-old grandson tells this joke, If you don’t get it find a nine-year-old. Or consider, when was the last time you got a full bag of potato chips?

What is your reputation? I recently read about the wealth of some of the leading evangelists in the world. One has a reported wealth of over 750 million dollars and is on his way to becoming a billionaire. Any good he is doing or has done is compromised by the reputation created by his enormous wealth.

Before you dismiss my thoughts, I am not saying a minister or Christian should not have wealth. I will argue they should not have excessive wealth. A certain amount of wealth is necessary to fund retirement and is compatible with Scripture. I also recognize that excessive is an arbitrary term. What I see as excessive another might see as necessary, and what I see as necessary is an abundance of wealth to some people in this world.

I have known pastors who lost their reputation because of a dalliance with a member of the opposite sex, and in one case the same sex, outside of their marriage vows. Others have lost their reputations for tax fraud. I know of a minister that is serving his second prison term for tax fraud. He served his first term and then did it again. I have no clue why he would do such a foolish thing.

It can happen because you slighted someone that your reputation gets damaged. Many years ago, I needed to deal with a family matter over rushing to the hospital to be with a woman who had been in an accident. She and her husband left the church because of my actions. To this day it hurts to even think about the fallout of that decision. I did the right thing, and I know that I did, and I tried to make amends. My reputation was hurt in the community. Soon after we left that church and left the pastorate for almost 20 years. I continued ministry working for a para-church ministry, but the sting of the hurt lasted a long time. Needless to say, my reputation was hurt, but so was theirs in the sight of my family.

So where am I going with all this and what does this have to do with Disturbed Thinking? It is simple. How often do you get annoyed at a false claim someone puts on social media, in an email, or that emanates from the lips of a politician? If you live in America today, it is a daily, and sometimes hourly experience.

I worry about how others will perceive me. Am I a man of my word? Do I reflect the words of Paul to the Corinthians, letting my yes be yes and my no be no?

Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time? But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

2 Corinthians 1:17-20 NAS95

What is your reputation today? Will some nine-year-old make a joke out of the facts of your reputation? In the biographies where my name is listed, it states that “if at the end of my life, they say he lived the fruit of the Spirit then I will have lived well.” That is the reputation I want in life, and at the end of my life. What is the goal of your life for your reputation?