Reputation

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

REPUTATION

Acts 28:21-22

21 They replied, "We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. 22 But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect."

NIV

We are coming to the end of this letter by Luke of his recording of the Acts of the Apostles, and it is ending with Paul being in Rome. He had called the leaders of the Jews to speak with them and we are in the middle of that conversation. Paul had just said he had done nothing against any of his people, he had nothing to charge against them, but that is because of the hope of Israel he is in chains. They would have understood he was talking about the long-awaited Messiah, but they also knew something about the sect called the way, or by now they were called Christians. Still, they wanted to hear his views because they knew people everywhere were talking against that sect. We find two interesting statements that are worth our consideration. First, the Jews said that no one had sent them any news about Paul and that none of the brothers who had come from Judea had said anything or reported anything bad about Paul. This concerns his reputation, and we have to think about what our reputation is. First, among the community of faith, in our own church and in those churches, we have the opportunity to visit. Second, in the world in which we are employed and function on a daily basis. What do our fellow believers think of us? It is not so much about how we actually live our lives within the church, but how our lives are perceived, how they consider us, and what is our reputation. Does anyone have anything bad to say about us, or conversely, does anyone have anything good to say about us? Then we have to consider what people think about us out there in the world in which we live our daily lives. Of course, there are some who live and work in the community of faith, and for the most part, have little opportunity to interact with the outside world. However, most of us, spend more time in the world with non-believers than we do in church, with fellow believers. Therefore, we must be aware of how they perceive our lives. How are we thought of? What do they talk about among themselves regarding both our vocabulary and our behavior? Do they have any reason whatsoever to say anything bad about us or could they say something good about us? Or course we do not live specifically to gain a good reputation, but then we should be living to please the Lord, and in doing so, we would think we would have a good reputation both in the church and in the world. Of course, there is always our reputation with the Lord. But we hope it is good, and perhaps the Lord could say about us what he said about David, that he found a man, or woman, after his own heart. Sure, David was certainly not a perfect man, but his heart was after God. This begs the question: is our heart after God, and because it is, then our reputation among the people should reflect our heart.