God's Reputation

Last week, my son Max commented about the number of beer bottles (they were cans/cases) in a neighbors garage. Because he seemed so put off by it, I tried to calm him down a little. Sure, drinking can be or make people get stupid, but God gives them the free choice to do that. I think Max wants everyone to live like we do.

Friday I finally sorted through a growing stack of various papers, things that made me think, "I-like-that-but-I-don't-want-to-or-know-where-to-file-it-right-now." So the stack grew. One piece was an April e-devotion from Daniel Henderson of Strategic Renewal and the title was "God's Reputation -- Our Resolve".

He started by writing about how non-believers attack God, His name, His book, and so on. What I really liked were his first two key ideas regarding this. Idea #1 - God is able to protect His own reputation. "Idea #2 - He is more concerned with how his own people dishonor His name than with how unbelievers mock Him."

I've seen too many adult believers get worked up about things they have no control of and things that, frankly, don't really matter. I tell our youth team to look past the annoying/unwise/goofy behavior of teens and worry about their hearts. I hope we're not expecting unbelievers to act like believers. I think getting worked up about people blowing God off or disrespecting Him is appropriate, but shouldn't be allowed to be a distraction. It shouldn't lead to condemnation either, because I was (and am) in the same 'I'll-run-my-own-life-my-own-way' boat.

One day, I'll learn how to embed the links but, until then, if you'd like to read Henderson's article, click here: http://www.strategicrenewal.com/media/1716/god's%20reputation,%20our%20resolve,%20april%2015,%202008.pdf
or here: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Daily_Renewal/Article.asp?article_id=1815