Teen Topics
Reputation
The Issue:
How do people view you? What kind of reputation do you
have? Such questions are important to consider, for the way
people view you often reflects the kind of life you are living.
Knowing that our actions speak louder than our words, we
must take our reputations seriously as we represent Christ.
What does the Bible say?
Note what the Bible says about a good reputation:
Prov. 22:1 – A good name is better than great riches.
Matt. 5:16 – A good reputation will bring glory to God.
Note what the Bible says about guarding our reputation:
Eph. 5:3 – Do not be associated with sinful behavior.
I Thess. 5:22 – Avoid every kind/appearance of evil.
Note what the Bible says about how people should view us:
Phil. 2:14-15 – Our lives should be blameless, clearly different
from those of the world. We should shine as lights for Christ.
What should I do?
The reputation we have will either give people a good view or
a bad view of Christ. The biggest hindrance to the cause of
Christ is believers whose reputations fail to demonstrate the
life changing power of the gospel. Our world does not need
mere “professing Christians,” but rather true believers who
are serious about their faith and whose commitment to Christ
pours out of their lives on a daily basis! The only way people
will know that we are different is if our lives look different!
This starts with truly being different in how we think, in what
we desire, and in what we live for! When people think about
you, can they see that you are different?