Reputation

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

REPUTATION

Prov 25:9-10

9 If you argue your case with a neighbor, do not betray another man's confidence, 10 or he who hears it may shame you and you will never lose your bad reputation.

NIV

What is said in confidence must remain in confidence, period. There is never a good excuse to repeat anything which is told to us. Gossip is abhorred by God. We have been told not to be gossips.

Prov 11:13

13 A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.

NIV

Over and over Solomon speaks about the gossip in a very negative sense.

The Corinthian church which was full of believers also was full of people, humans, imperfect in every way. Paul wrote to them about their waywardness.

2 Cor 12:20-21

20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip , arrogance and disorder. 21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.

NIV

Gossip was right in there along with all those other sinful attitudes and behaviors. So often we just consider the bad sins, but never give much thought to telling stories about other people’s problems or waywardness. We have said it and we need to pay attention to it. If we are not part of the problem or the solution than it is none of our business. It is so easy to get caught up in telling someone what somebody said. Now if they post it on Facebook or some other social media, while then it is public domain and we all can talk about their words. We can gossip all we want. But those words were posted strictly for those who are accepted as friends, so then some people did not see that post and  then we would indeed be a gossip betraying that friends words. Some believers might even try to hide gossip in a prayer request. But it is still gossip. We have a reputation to behold. That reputation is not really ours, but Christ’s. If people know we are a Christian, and surely they should, then any type of gossip ruins the reputation of Christ. We are his representatives on earth, his ambassadors to a lost world. What we say and how we behave reflects on him and his reputation. Let us always be that one person who can keep a secret, be that confidant, be depended on in a person’s troubled times, to guard them, to protect them, to trust them, to hope in them and show them who Jesus is by being trustworthy regarding their life and words. It is all about his reputation. Our reputation is his reputation.