A Prayer When Your Reputation Is Damaged - Your Daily Prayer - August 11

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A Prayer When Your Reputation Is Damaged
By Peyton Garland

Bible Reading:
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 Corinthians 4:7

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A few days ago, I stuck my foot in my mouth, but not in a “bad” way. Rather, I was a bit more vulnerable with my mental health struggles, more vulnerable than I’ve ever been with someone outside my tight family. I’ve written articles, blog posts, and even books about the debilitating, villainous OCD monster that plagues my life, but never have I looked someone in the face in such an intimate setting and spilled the big, hard, embarrassing stuff.

As soon as I confessed to my friend just how wild my OCD can be, I thought, She will never think of me the same again. I’ve damaged my reputation, possibly ruined this friendship.

Needless to say, my stomach was in knots all day. I was nauseated by a situation, or someone’s perception, rather, that was now totally out of my hands.

Then I recalled a video that I watched just that morning (the timing a bit uncanny, if you ask me). Jackie Hill Perry, a Christian author, speaker, and influencer, recently shared that others have tried to make it seem that she supports Pride Month, though she doesn’t. Amid the online chaos that threatens to taint her image, she has made a life-changing, convicting point for us all: instead of defending your reputation, proclaim the gospel.

Our vulnerability and the stage it can provide aren’t about preserving our image or making a name for ourselves. It’s all about allowing God to use whatever story He has written for us—plot twists and all—for His resurrection power in order to change lives.

If God uses sinners, He can use whatever awkward, scary, miserable situation we place ourselves in for His glory. He can use whatever unfair situation others place us in, too.

We are the actors, and He is the director. He sees the whole stage and knows the audience far better than we ever will. We enter and exit at His will, and at the final curtain call, we will point to Him as the ultimate producer of all things magnificently beautiful and redemptive.

At the end of the day, our reputations are far too fragile to sustain. If we chase such a goal, we idolize perfection. We become slaves to perception rather than practice. Then, tragically, our faith in God becomes faulty because it’s not truly faith in Him. It’s simply us playing the Christian game because it creates a nice narrative to shelter our name.

This is why it’s important to remember that God doesn’t just use our moments of weakness. He uses us, who we are, in those moments so He can transform our hearts and gift us with a testimony of His love.

If I’ve learned one thing in life, it’s that cracked vessels overflow much quicker than perfectly whole ones. It seems the more trials we endure, the quicker our imperfect hearts break, the sooner we are chipped and cracked and can spill over with God’s goodness. Thus, our weaknesses provide much more room for God’s glory to overflow.

As Scripture says, the knowledge and power displayed through impossible redemption are never ours to boast about. The goodness we create and the beauty we share are only gifts we’ve been given by the Great Giver. No good thing is from us or through us apart from Him.

And honestly, that’s such a relief when you’re afraid you have messed up too much, gone too far, or damaged your reputation beyond repair. The power to sustain your reputation was never yours, and the ability to restore an impossible situation isn’t yours.

Though this might not sound like great news on the surface, it’s far more than great news. It’s freeing news! The pressure is off you to control everything. Better still, Jesus sustains all things, including your soul, not because of your performance but because He is goodness.

He is sovereign and all-powerful, and in these unlimited qualities, He will see us into eternity, where perfect stories never end and cups overflow from whole, healed vessels.

Let’s Pray

God, as humans, it’s only natural that we long to maintain our reputations and control everything. We long to appear as the very thing we can’t be—perfect. May we surrender this pride to you and trust that you are both sovereign and good. Grant us the courage to open our hands and allow our failures and weaknesses to play a redemptive part in the story you have written to heal mankind. Restore the world with our humility and witness, Lord God. Forever, Amen.

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Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Tiziana Nanni

Peyton Garland is an author, editor, and boy mama who lives in the beautiful foothills of East Tennessee. Subscribe to her blog Uncured+Okay for more encouragement.

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