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| Mary, the mother of Jesus |
Our reputation, in many cases, can be a result of our wrong choices, but
not always. In other instances, like
Mary the mother of our Lord, her reputation was the result of embracing the
will of God.
Reputation is what people think about us.
Character is what God knows about us.
Being the recipient of the virgin birth caused Mary to lose her good
reputation. Loren Cunningham, the
founder of Youth With A Mission, once said, “There never has been anyone who has done
anything significant for God, who has not first lost their reputation.” The bigger that Mary became in her pregnancy,
the more people talked, and that is how in works in the world. The more that
you do for the Lord, the more people will try to discredit you. Why does God allow this to happen? Possibly, it smashes the great hindrance for
being useful to the Master, our pride. It
forces us to perform our service to please our heavenly Father, not for the recognition
of man. Moral purity is reflected by
what we do when no one is watching.
Godly character develops when our actions are motivated by what God
thinks and not just what people see. At
times it is easy to imitate righteousness. Hypocrisy promotes a status without the
corresponding virtue. Mary, to the
contrary, exercised faith and obedience in spite of the consequences to her
reputation.
Mary knew the truth about how she conceived her baby, and so did God, and
that was enough. Mary feared God and not
the people. Therefore, she lost her
reputation, but we gained the Savior of this world.
Image used with permission by Microsoft.
Ken
Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
Podcasts: http://kensblogpodcast.blogspot.com
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