DEVOTION
ROMANS
WHAT’S IN YOUR
REPUTATION?
Rom 1:8-10
First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the
world. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his
Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times;
and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come
to you.
NIV
It certainly appears those
even without the wall street journal, or foxnews.com or, for that matter all
the media of today, the news of those believer’s faith was reported all over
the world. They had a reputation of being Christ followers and this reputation
had spread from town to town, country to country until the whole known world
which Paul was speaking of was keenly aware of who they were, their faith and
what they believed and of whom they believed in. How did this happen? How did
the faith of a small band of believers stuck at almost the bottom of a large
peninsula, in the city of Rome, a city of immense population, reach all over
the known world? Inherent within mankind it seems is the need to gossip, and it
would seem gossip was working. Stories
of these faithful few spread possibly, because of Roman soldiers who reported
for duty in far off lands, or maybe because of traders bringing and taking
goods into and out of Rome, to and from parts unknown. However, one thing was
for certain, these Christians did not stay secluded from their society. They
must have been a force to reckon with. They had to have had a divine influence
upon their hearts and it must have been reflected to the world around them. Has
this kind of faith dwindled? Have we, as believers of today, either secluded
ourselves completely out of view of
unbelievers or have we so embraced the
lifestyle of the ungodly world around us, no one knows who we are? Sure there
are churches, some with a cross, on almost every street corner. But what does
the unbelieving think about all those churches? They see a different name, a
different twist as to denomination. They know those churches have something to
do with God, but that may be all. Then again with all the differences, what
reputation does that reflect? Does it show that none of us can get along? Does
it show there is division among us? We cannot let a building define our
reputation. We have to project a personal reputation.
What is our reputation? Our
reputation cannot be because of good deeds or works performed in human
standards. Many unbelievers do good deeds and have a reputation among other
men, unbelievers also claim in working for the benefit of mankind, laboring to
achieve a better society such as habitat for humanity and the like. No, we must
ask; is my reputation of one who demonstrates faith, as it was the faith, not
the human efforts of these in Rome, which was reported. It was faith, do we
have a reputation of having faith which is defined within the Greek word used, Pistis,[1] as a
persuasion or moral conviction especially the reliance upon Christ for salvation.
Do people know for what we stand? Do people see us reflecting Christ? What
reputation do we have? Not just with other believers, but with unbelievers. Do
they tell others about us? What kind of gossip is told about us? Do they say
that we are a person of faith? Do they say we demonstrate love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and, yes, even
self-control? Do they say we are a person who loves God with all our being, and
loves them? Surely they do not know all the nuances of love as God defines it.
Yet, even at wedding of unbelievers many have that definition quotes from
Corinthians 13. But then many who we would call unbelievers, call themselves
Christian. They have a reputation also. Are they truly representing Jesus
correctly? Do they just believe they are Christian because they use a church on
occasion? If we define believer as one who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior, having been born again, Spirit-filled, then we may be fewer then we
think. But we are the ones who need to reflect the correct image of Jesus to
the world so then our reputation counts. What is our reputation?
[1] NT:4102
NT:4102 pistis (pis'-tis); from NT:3982; persuasion,
i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God
or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation;
abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious
(Gospel) truth itself:
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and
Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003
Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
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