My Reputation
Accompanying lesson video: https://youtu.be/_ZfuoJros5s
INTRODUCTION
It seems these days, people who are to be the most “looked up to” or admired are the “beautiful or handsome”. The most successful is because they have fame and fortune. It does not matter their lifestyle, or ungodliness that is exemplified in their daily lives.
Ecclesiastes 7:1 – “A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume”.
Proverbs 22:1 – A good name is to be more desired than great wealth. Favor is better than silver and gold.
Acts 6:3 – Select from among you 7 men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of the task.
I think we worry too much, even as leaders, “what we do is most important”. WHO are we? What is Solomon telling us in this chapter? Let’s break it down into some important truths:
1. LOSS WILL COME
There will be moments of adversity and even loss in our short life. Loss can come in many ways, and we feel we lose our breath or momentum. This can make us or break us. This can teach us to live wisely and refine our “character”. I have said for years, “I always learned more in the tough times than the better times”.
7:3 – Sorrow is better than laughter for sadness has a refining influence on us.
See your struggles as an opportunity to learn.
If we never have a problem, we will never need a miracle.
We are not to be morbid and plan as God gives us our days.
2. FINISH WHAT YOU START
7:8 Finishing is better than starting.
It’s easy to be excited, start with joy but what happens closer to the finish line is most important.
To finish takes hard work.
Be wise, self-disciplined and have patience.
Look forward not backward.
7:10 Don’t look for the good “ole days”. They weren’t so good! They had many challenges.
Israel were slaves in Egypt making bricks and they were miserable. Yet when they faced hard times in the wilderness, they wanted the “garlic and onions”, instead of heavenly bread and meat from heaven. We never move ahead by looking in the rearview mirror.
Realize the journey will look differently than you expected.
Walk in His wisdom
7:12 – Only wisdom can save your life.
3. GOOD AND BAD TIMES WILL CONTINUE TO COME
7:13, 14. Be thankful our lives are being directed by the God of Heaven. Yes, He allows good and bad to come to everyone.
God blends our lives in such a way that we must depend on Him.
We give ourselves the credit for good times.
Really, “Every good and perfect gift comes from above”. Yes, we make bad or good choices but the very breath we have comes from Him.
Don’t blame God for the bad times, thank him anyway.
God is still our Father watching over us and sometimes the difficult drives us to a deeper place and relationship. We can lose sight of the important.
Don’t despair – God brings “GOOD” from what we call “BAD”.
4. KEEP BALANCE IN YOUR LIFE.
7:18 – Anyone who fears God will avoid 2 extremes –
We can have “pride” even legalism or false righteousness.
When we are “good” to impress others, then our main purpose is forgotten. Be wise to honor God.
What is most important in our lives is to seek God and his righteousness, so others see and know the “living God”.
This is a process that comes from relationship.
When we live to please God – we become virtuous.
7:29 – But I find this: God created people to be virtuous but they each turned to follow their own downward path!
What will be on our tombstone? Will we be that man/woman who will walk through loss, and pain but keep going to the finish line? Sometimes it is the “hardest” at the end of the race.
We can become very exhausted but keep the balance. Put down pride, seek him, (all the way through the journey) and come across as a man/woman of good reputation and a “person who wholly followed the Lord”.
It is not just “What we do”, but “Who we are and are becoming!
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