Your Reputation by Lane Jordan Burday
Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold (Proverbs 22:1 NLT).
Warren Buffet once said, “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that seriously, you’ll do things differently.”
In this day and age of Facebook posts and Instagram reels, it is easy to post something that will later come to haunt you. It seems that no matter what you post on these public platforms, people can turn it to your advantage or against you. So we need to be careful what we write and what we say. Our good name can be gone in a few seconds.
It makes me shudder to think of all the young people out there who don’t realize these posts can last a lifetime and make it harder to get a job. We need to remind ourselves and our children that reputation matters more than anything else, even more than money.
Because a good reputation states that you are someone who can be trusted, that you are wise and have good understanding,
I love this verse, which shows that even a young child knows how important his reputation is: “Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright” (Proverbs 20:11).
The problem is that so many people just don’t care in the moment. They want to voice their opinion! But later, their name and reputation could be ruined.
I think of all the politicians who must leave office because an affair became public or a stock market scam was exposed. People will always remember that one act instead of all the good they may have done in their lives.
We need to check ourselves on how we talk and act. Does it truly reflect who we are, devoted to Christ and living for Him? I know I can be guilty of this because it’s so easy to start rattling off complaints about a person or situation without pausing and asking God what I should or shouldn’t say.
I pray that you will ask God to guard your thoughts, actions, and words so others see your light, not any negativity.
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