Thursday; October 28

In the Third Act of Shakespeare’s play, Othello, Iago remarks, “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals my purse steals trash; ‘tis something, nothing; ‘twas mine, ‘tis his, and has been slave to thousands; but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.” (I bet you didn’t think you open up one of my thoughts and read Shakespeare, did you!) I have heard this quote for years; but the other day I got thinking about it – not from the perspective of slander, but in light of our willingness to protect our good name. Most of us have put some type of protective system in place to keep our stuff safe. From the locks on our doors to elaborate alarm systems in our houses, we take great pains to keep people from stealing our property. Yet, do we have that same conviction about protecting our good name? Sure, it is wrong for someone to drag our reputation through the mud, but isn’t it our responsibility to protect it in the first place? When we do things that put our character in question (making it easy for someone to steal our good name) aren’t we culpable, too?
The Bible reminds us, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, favor is better than silver and gold.” (Proverbs 22:1). What are we doing to keep our name and integrity out of the muck and mire? Are we protecting our reputation with the same vigor we are safeguarding our wealth? Let’s make sure we do what we need to be above reproach, then we won’t have to spend as much trying to do damage control after the fact.

Think About It!

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