a glorious REPUTATION

"You displayed miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, his officials, and all his people, for you knew how arrogantly they were treating our ancestors. You have a glorious reputation that has never been forgotten." Nehemiah 9:10 (NLT)

"...a glorious reputation that has never been forgotten." The Taylor Swift album aside, one's reputation is a big deal. Webster's defines reputation as the "overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general"; "recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability."

In this era of image management, where media is manipulated to craft how one represents themselves to the world, one's reputation can become equated to one's image but they are very different things. The representation of a thing is not necessarily the essence of it. A reflection cannot love you back. Facebook allows users to post only approved photos that are at the right angle, with the right filter, in the right light, with the "right people" to give off the image that one wants portrayed, allowing the user control over what is perceived about them by others. In a sense we have become our own image consultants - and every post and tweet speaks to a possibly crafted persona quite different than the reality. I am not saying this is always the case but sometimes the image is the reality - Trump for example... but I digress...

I am wrestling with the word reputation this morning. God needs no image consultant. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not struggle with who He is and what is important to Him. Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Romans 1:20 "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." 

All of this points to the only One to trust with your life, soul, and destiny; the only One to trust with your yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He has infinite merit shown over time and within it. Hebrews 1:3 "He (Jesus) is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power..."

So starts the cessation of loving your own reputation and begins the forever adoration of His. xo