A Good Reputation

Roses are red,
violets are blue.
This is the kind of poetry I understand,
​how about you?

This past weekend, I learned a little bit about ancient Hebrew poetry. For one thing, it didn’t rhyme! One advantage to that is the fact that it could be translated and still make sense thousands of years later. One tool of Hebrew poetry was parallelism...comparing the similarities or differences between two separate ideas. In this proverb of King Solomon (Hebrew poetry), a comparison was made between building a good reputation and building wealth. Solomon’s advice was: if you have to choose between the two, choose a good reputation! I think most people would say they want a good reputation. Who doesn’t want to be “a good person”? If things go bad and an accusation is made against us, a good reputation can be a life saver. When possible promotions or advancement come our way, reputations matter, too.

Looking at this word of wisdom from Solomon, we see that, like wealth, a good reputation is an investment (the better investment) and it takes both time and effort to build. It often takes YEARS to build a solid financial foundation and the same is true of a good reputation, but both can be blown very quickly with just a few bad decisions.  I think that was the point Solomon was making. To build a good reputation, we have to set a future goal, work hard, invest carefully and watch for bad decisions that could derail years of previous hard work.

As always, I’m praying for your safety, and this week, for wisdom as you build and guard your reputation: may it protect you, promote you and make you proud.
   
Your service is appreciated, 
Pastor Rob