Protecting Your Rep
Aug 28, 2022A few months ago, Trisha went to pick up our youngest son from school. He got in the van, and they started to head home. On the way home, she said to Isaiah, “How was your day?” He said, “It was good.” She replied, “What did you do today?” “We played and had gym.” So down the road they went.
A few minutes later, she received a call from the assistant principal at his school. She began to inform Trisha that Isaiah had gotten in trouble. He and another boy had to go to the bathroom, and rather than asking to go inside to use the restroom, they decided to go behind a tree and pee on the tree. They got caught, and it was a major deal. Like go on your permanent record major. Not only that, but come to find out, Isaiah had spent 3 hours…THREE HOURS…in the principal’s office that day. He never said a word. Acted like it was a typical day.
“How was your day?” “Good.” “What did you do today?” “We played and had gym.” As I thought about my son and his response, the truth is that there isn’t a huge difference between him and us. There are major problems. There are major issues. There has been a major mess up…like go on your permanent record mess up…but often we don’t acknowledge it. We pretend like it hasn’t happened. We act like its no big deal.
Trust has been broken; addictions have been revealed; hidden sin is now pushed into the light; but so many of us are more concerned about our reputation than we are our heart. We’re more concerned about what others think about us than who we really are.
When losing your reputation is the driving force of your life…healing is a long way off. When you care about people finding out you are broken more than you care to be whole…your in for a long, painful, repetitive journey.
Pretending it doesn’t exist won’t make your lust issues go away. Acting like you are an honest person won’t help you stop lying. Keeping your marriage problems from your family and friends won’t help you avoid divorce. Being nice when people are around doesn’t make up for the anger issues you have. Playing like you have lots of money when what you really have is lots of debt won’t allow you to live in freedom.
Protecting your rep, isn’t the same as guarding your heart.
