Our Reputations

It's depressing to me when I think of the way that some groups, who include me, have lost their good reputations.  One of the most apparent to me is the way that Texans are viewed.  It seems that it wasn't even that long ago that Texas was "Everything's bigger in Texas" and "Don't mess with Texas."  It was the independent, fun-loving, extra-friendly capital of country music, good manners, and great food.  Now it seems like Texas' independence given way to rebelliousness, fun-loving has given way to a sense of being better than everyone else, and whatever happened to extra-friendly?  Texas is no longer highly respected, it's derided and made fun of.

It's happened to other groups that represent me too.  America was once highly respected in the world and considered a model for good governance and economic strength.  The reasons for why America is now intensely disliked and even ignored as a sideshow are well-known and too many to try to get into.  It's happened to my University of Texas, where an article I was reading the other day talked about their fickle sports fans who show up late and leave early because of the sorry state of their athletics programs.  The university's leadership and donor base is fractured by infighting and the school is suffering as a result.  It's happened to Lutherans too - we trace our roots back to the father of the Reformation and have a great history of good doctrines and standing up for the truth.  Today, however, I'm generally ashamed to call myself a Lutheran among other Christians.

Perhaps no loss of reputation hurts as badly as the damage that has been done to the reputation of Christians, however.  It was reported in the early days of the new faith that Christians were turning the world upside down with their compassion, mercy, and love.  They of course had their unjust charges leveled against them, but Jesus was pleased to say that the world would know we are his disciples by our love for one another.  Today, however, Christians have been pushed to the margins as mean-spirited, divisive, argumentative or, at best, irrelevant.  Christians are not known for their acts of charity, but for a thousand years of fighting Muslims, for being anti-everything, for their money scandals, and for being self-absorbed.  I'm thankful for cultural artifacts like Duck Dynasty that do seem to help bring up the reputation of Christians, but they are few and far between.

Christ calls us His ambassadors.  We quite literally carry His name in ours.  The Bible is full of statements where God is acting for the sake of His name, but we're not doing a very good job of serving His reputation through our own.  Life is not all about paying attention to what others think of you.  But sometimes we would be wise to watch what we do to our own reputations.