My Community Reputation

Nehemiah 11: ⁶ The descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem totaled 468 men of standing.

============

Scrawny was my description in the neighborhood I grew up in. I can think of other adjectives like “holey pants” and “Professor” although that one didn’t quite turn out to be an insult. My next neighborhood was more of an extended area known as high school. I traveled one hour by bus through many tough areas and the terms “easy target” and “punk” were hurled at me.

Tired of these labels, I decided to make my own reputation in my college neighborhood, so I collected my wit and became a jokester with a foul mouth. I always had something funny to say so my crowd soon began to degrade to those who wanted to hear that kind of humor. Soon I had a reputation of “clown” and could not be taken seriously. What reputation should I have?

• There have been times where I wanted to be known.
• There have been times where I wanted to be popular.
• There have been times where I wanted to be heard.

It is easy to get a reputation that has little to no value to anyone else. Others were getting recognized for being “most likely to succeed” and I was being called out for being a “clown”.  My reputation was broken. BUT GOD said something different.

• GOD said to me “You will be insulted, BUT I made you beautifully and wonderfully.”
• GOD said to me “Do not be afraid of those who can harm you with words or even harm your body, but fear GOD who can harm the soul.”
• GOD said to me “Walk in MY ways and I will always make your paths straight.”

If GOD leaves me on this earth to reach 120 years old, what do I want my community reputation to be? Do I want a legacy to myself or to be known as a clown or would my life have pointed to GOD? GOD desires that I spend more of my time with HIM so I can point people to HIM.

• Are you trying to make a reputation for yourself?
• How are you viewed in all of your communities?
• Can you see if you need to move out of the complaining community and into a compassionate one?
• Will GOD say “Well done my good and faithful servant” to you if your heart is hard?