What do people say about you behind your back?
You might answer, “I don’t know, because whatever they are saying, they are keeping it hidden from me. That is the definition of ‘behind your back’.”
Okay, I’ll grant you that. But I won’t let you off the hook that easy. I suspect that most of us have at least a sense of what people are saying about us. I suspect that most of us not only know people are talking behind our backs, but we also know a semblance of what they might be saying.
Talk behind the back relates to reputation. What do you think your reputation might be? Is it mostly good? Is it sometimes negative? Do people think highly of you? Or are people frustrated by you? Our reputation is often mixed, varied, depending on the people in our lives. Some people might think highly of us. Others might not be fans.
Of course, some people truly do not know their own reputation. They might be oblivious. Maybe they don’t care. Or perhaps they are wrong about their reputation. They believe their reputation is one way, while most people around them would describe it a very different way. Some people think of themselves far more positively than their reputation. Conversely, some people are more negative about themselves than others view them.
Facing the truth about ourselves can be scary. Some of us do not want to know what others think about us. So we don’t ask, we avoid finding out the truth, and we go on with our lives. We can turn a blind eye to ourselves. The people around us can promote that blindness in us, given how difficult it is to tell people the truth about themselves. Frankly, when people do try to tell us the truth, we are often quite unwilling to receive it, further insulating our perception from reality.
Disciples of Jesus, however, are people who welcome self-reflection, evaluation, critique, pushback, confrontation, and accountability. Disciples of Jesus are eager to learn their reputation, so that if there is anything negative in their thinking or behavior, they can strive to correct it. Therefore, my initial question “What is your reputation?” is putting the cart before the horse. I should be asking, “Are you the kind of person who is eager to learn your reputation?”
This coming week on the blog I continue studying Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, and he reveals to them their reputation. Read 1st Thessalonians 1:4–10 and see what Paul says to the Christians. Do they have a good reputation? Or a not-so-good reputation? What Paul tells them is very instructive for us and our reputation. We’ll talk about it further starting Monday.
Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 