Is Your Faith Being Reported?

Do you ever wonder what people really say about you? I'm not talking about an unhealthy concern for what people say about the way you look or the way you act or the friends you choose or any of a hundred other qualities that mark your life. I'm asking if you ever stop to consider how people view you through the lens of what's really important?

In measuring who you are, I believe it is important to consider your spiritual reputation in the world you inhabit. Do people think of you as a person of faith? Or, do they hold some contrary opinion?

"He talks a good fight," some may say about you. "But when it comes right down to it, I don't see any evidence that he particularly relies on God." Or, "She always talks about God, but I don't see her trusting God to meet her needs." Is that how people view you? What's your spiritual reputation?

The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Christians in Rome, gave testimony that their spiritual reputation had certainly preceded them. In Romans 1:8, Paul writes these words:

⁸ I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.

Here, Paul was expressing gratitude that the spiritual reputation of the Christians gathered at Rome had spread throughout the world. Imagine that. At the dawn of Christianity, just a relatively few years after the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christians in Rome had already become well known as people of faith.

As we walk the pathway of life, we need to examine our own faith reputation. Does our behavior as believers in the Lord Jesus speak well of us? Do we exhibit qualities that come from the leading of the Holy Spirit within us? Have we allowed God to deepen our faith to the point that it becomes evident to the people around us?

Think about your "world," the one in which you spend your time each day. Do people know you as a person of faith? In the deep recesses of your heart and mind, can you hear the Apostle say of you, "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world?"

_{Copyright © 2010 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}