“Nothing takes longer to build than a godly reputation.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2013-09-24) from his book, All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life (Kindle Location 1940). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

I was a Youth Minister for a bunch of years. When I got too old to handle the all-nighters I headed into Adult Ministry. One main difference between the two was you had a honeymoon period working with adults but you had to earn the respect of youth.

I used to work and work to earn their respect and confidence and then loose it all with overreacting to something they did. I then had to start over.

But the truth is it takes a long time to earn the respect of both adults and youth. Someone said that a church doesn’t really get to the point that they believe in you as a Pastor until about seven years. At that point they get to thinking that maybe you’re going to stay so they let down their guard and start following and trusting you.

Mark then said, “And nothing is destroyed more quickly by one stroke of sin.” And that has been shown over and over by pastors and leaders and fathers and mothers and husbands and wives and executives and bosses and workers and students and teachers and friends and politicians and policemen and bankers and people and people and people.

Yes God is in the second chance and forgiveness business but not all people are and especially in this reputation side of life. That comes from character and wisdom and confidence and respect and hard work and being interested in other people and humility and maturity.

Yes we all fail but how we handle the failure goes a long way in building a good reputation. Someone will be watching and hoping that we handle it well.

So how are you doing?

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