Hello~

“After three years I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days. I met no other apostles, except James, the brother of the Lord. God knows that these things I write are not lies. Later, I went to the areas of Syria and Cilicia.  In Judea the churches in Christ had never met me. They had only heard it said, ‘This man who was attacking us is now preaching the same faith that he once tried to destroy.’ And these believers praised God because of me.”

Paul finally travels to Jerusalem, some 6-plus years after his conversion, but he makes a couple things clear about his trip.  The fifteen days he spends with Peter are critical, because Peter had obviously been with Jesus all during His ministry--including arrest, trials, crucifixion, and resurrection, while Paul had not. 

Paul needed to hear from an eyewitness, from one of Jesus’ ‘main men’ about the Messiah.  Wouldn’t it have been amazing to witness this meeting?  “Shalom, Petros, my name is Paul of Tarsus—I come in peace.” (Peter sighs in relief, knowing just how aggressive Paul had been persecuting and prosecuting the young believers.)  “Please, Petros, will you tell me what it was like to be with Jesus of Nazareth?  How did it feel when He called you away from your fishing nets on Galilee to follow Him?  How was it to hear the Rabbi teach the people. . . and the miracles?!  You must have never grown tired of watching Jesus heal the blind and lame!  Oh, do tell me, Petros. . .”

Paul’s reputation preceded him. . . long before most people met Paul, they  heard about him.  His fellow Jews knew of his privileged study under Rabbi Gamaliel, his leadership in the Jerusalem synagogue, and his favor with other Jewish leaders.  Christians feared him; they knew that he had stood by and watched Stephen’s stoning. . . why, the rock-throwers even put their cloaks at Paul’s feet.  Speculation is that Paul had ordered the ‘hit’ on Stephen, but was also heavily impacted by Stephen’s testimony as he was dying.  (‘A very powerful story recorded in Acts 7)  I do not believe very many people were ambivalent about Paul because of his strong personality and convictions—first as a Jew, and then as a Jewish-Christian missionary. 

How about your reputation?  Does it speak of strong character and integrity or something else?  Does it paint you as loving, compassionate and kind?  Does it portray you as a sold-out person of Christian faith?  Do you really stand for anything?  Hmmm. . . ‘really good questions to ponder. 

And then as I think of this, I wonder how many people would love to change their reputation—to ‘wipe the slate clean’.  How would you even start?  First of all, remember, that ultimately, you will only answer to God, and He knows your heart; He knows when it changes, and when it turns toward Him. Second, I think changed behavior is noticeable, and word gets around about that, too.  When given the opportunity to comment or defend one’s self, a smile and, “Oh, that was the old me, I have made some good changes,” or even “God changes”, will go a long way in changing one’s reputation.  So do not think that if your reputation has been poor you never have a chance of changing it—you do, with God’s help, your commitment, tenacity, and time.

Proverbs 22.1 says “A {good} name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold.” Just as word about Paul got around, (and that was before technology!), it gets around about us, too.  Let’s endeavor to keep our names untarnished, our reputations pure. . . because after all, we represent the King!

Onward,

Christine