Your Reputation

[taco_harvell]

What does your reputation mean to you?

What are you willing to do to protect it?

What are you willing to risk it for?

[Chseeads]

This question and "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" are twin sisters.....

[Melody]

I don't really know what my reputation is. But I know some like me and logic says some don't so I have to just worry about what my integrity is & about what God thinks of me. 

I know i've made enemies by doing the right things & by being carnal. The later would require some to have grace for me which not all people can deal with.

Thank God for His grace, room to grow.

[He-Man]

ROFL my reputation varies depending on which group of people you ask

[Scott]

ROFL my reputation varies depending on which group of people you ask

[Chseeads]

As far as that goes, so does a lot of people's.  Mine too.

[Babs]

Way I see it is, Jesus didn't care about his, he did what needed to be done. So why should I worry about it. Too many people so worried what others think they never do anything in life.

[Lynx]

Way I see it is, Jesus didn't care about his, he did what needed to be done. So why should I worry about it. Too many people so worried what others think they never do anything in life.

Amen, and +1.

This is not to say a Philippians 4:8 and I Timothy 3:7 are invalid.  One must take care to have a good reputation in the community, within bounds of reason.  But there will always be people gossiping, people holding you up to their standards and judging you by them, people making their judgments very widely known.     To try to track down and nullify all aspersions cast against one's character would be exhaustive, exhausting and futile. 

For myself I have a few people who's good opinion I treasure.  My grandmother, my uncle Fred, my father, my pastor - these people and a few others have proven themselves wise and it is important to me that they have a good opinion of me.  And above all, when I pray I want to make sure my viewpoint on life is in sync with God's, and that God has a good opinion of me. 

As long as I have that, rumormongerers can go hang.   

[Scott]

Reputation?

Ha!

My core values and beliefs have not changed, but over the years I have been called a rabble rousing, trouble maker, backslider hell bound heathen, fuddy duddy, ultra conservative, liberal, jerk, nice guy, bad guy, good guy, sweet guy, mean guy and a few other things that I cannot repeat anytime or any where. (And that is what church people call me)

I got to the place where it no longer matters, they cannot keep it straight anyways.

[Lynx]

An ultra-conservative liberal?  How do you pull that off?   


I forgot to mention WHY I can say "As long as I have that, rumormongerers can go hang." I have found that if I keep doing and being what I should their rumors never have any net negative effect on my reputation.  The boss, captain, person-in-charge that the rumor spreader is trying to influence may listen to the rumors and go investigate, but there never is anything to investigate.  If anything it sometimes reinforces my good reputation because they notice positive things about me that they would otherwise not have noticed. 

[Scott]

An ultra-conservative liberal?  How do you pull that off?    

Depends on where I am.

@ one church I was the fuddy duddy @ another I was too liberal and yet another church felt I was an out of control heathen that was hell bound. (My crime? I had fun instead of being a stick in the mud).

[He-Man]

I have been called a rabble rousing, trouble maker, backslider hell bound heathen, fuddy duddy, ultra conservative, liberal, jerk, nice guy, bad guy, good guy, sweet guy, mean guy and a few other things that I cannot repeat anytime or any where. (And that is what church people call me)

I knew I liked you for a reason :-D

[Heather]

i'm fairly certain there's a joan jett song about how i feel about my reputation. lol.

[taco_harvell]

Has your reputation as a "christian" ever kept you from reaching out to someone you knew needed help?

Maybe it was someone with a bad reputation and you were worried about guilt by association.

Maybe they lived in an area with a reputation of it's on and you didn't want to be seen on that side of town.

I have known pastors who wouldn't allow their outreach teams to go to certain neighborhoods because they didn't want their church to get a "bad reputation". If we value our reputation so much that it keeps us from reaching out to those who need God can we really say we represent the body of Christ in the earth?

God in the Old Testament had a reputation, in many ways it was of an untouchable God separated in many ways from his people. If a sinner wanted forgiveness he had to obtain it through the priest. In the New Testament God's reputation changed, to be exact the bible says this:

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

If you read the gospels  one thing the priest and religious leaders complained about constantly was who Jesus was seen with. He chose the sinners, the out cast, and the forgotten to minister too. Maybe it's time some of us got a "bad reputation" for ministering to the same type of people Jesus did. Maybe it's time some of our churches became known as where the rough crowd goes. Maybe...........


Just an observation and something the Lords been dealing with me about.

[IowaSkirtGirl]

Guilt by association...This caught my eye.

Honestly I go to a church full of reformed people. Who all know me well enough to know that if I go into the depths of my past or less than wonderful sections of life that it's to pull someone I love or just know out with me. And if they judge me based on who I'm ministering to then are they really a Christian? Didn't Jesus talk to the prostitutes and the "unclean" and go to the lowest of the low...I'd personally love to reach to someone who has "nothing" by most standards and hand then a Bible and teach them about Jesus...he's free..his love is free and hope...above all things..is free...

My reputation varies based on who you ask. I'm complicated and hardworking. I'm loyal and mischievous. I love too easily and care about too many people. I give until I have nothing left and then I find more to give. I'm also a recovering alcoholic and drug addict...so I'm sure there are people who would remember me as such...As far as protecting my reputation...I don't. It is what is is and people will think whatever they want. I am who I am and only God can judge me. People here on earth are temporary...Heaven is my home...my FOREVER HOME! and I want to take as many people as I can when I go!