The Fragility of a Good Name

By Ken Laue

It just takes one Dang, you screwed up! to cancel out a thousand atta-boys, Percival explained to me. 
The wizened old retired Air Force master sergeant was passing along some wisdom to me, a young early-thirties civilian kid who needed some enlightenment.

The comment was in regards to a fellow student transportation worker with a spotless employee record who made just one bad decision that was going to land him in serious disciplinary action or dismissal.

I argued for our co-worker's great record with us. Percival doubted the previous years of faithful service would save him from the consequences of his one and only big mess-up.

I was a committed Christian of four or five years' conversion who witnessed to my co-workers. and Percival was a blunt, foul-mouthed, profane unbeliever who blew second-hand smoke in my face as he lectured me.

But God can use anyone (or anything, such as a talking donkey) to educate a Christian. And Percival's observations were undeniably accurate.

Coming upon a scripture during my devotions recently triggered my fond memory of Percival’s lesson that day. Ecclesiastes 10:1 says, "Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor."

I've been confined to quarters recently on a medical leave of absence from my bus driving job with Vail School District on Tucson's east side. So I've had plenty of time to keep up with news, radio talk shows and current events.

What I've seen is that our society and the media are in a moral tailspin (or power dive?) fixated on crucifying any politician or public figure who seems to be a person of "wisdom and honor," as Ecclesiastes puts it.

As I write this, Herman Cain, a respected black politician who is a GOP hopeful for the 2012 presidential election, is being bombarded by several women who have suddenly popped out of the woodwork after fifteen or twenty years to accuse him of sexual harassment years ago when he was president of a large national restaurant organization.

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh, in remarking on Cain's accusers, reminded us of former president Bill Clinton's sexual exploits and indiscretions. Not to mention the famous golf champ Tiger Woods and the scandal of his "sexual addiction" coming to light not too long ago.

In other breaking news is famous Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, and Jerry Sandusky, the defensive coordinator, going down in flames and disgrace as the details of a child molestation scandal come to the media's attention.

Careers scuttled, honor blackened. These were men respected for wisdom and honor by the world, before a few flies got into the perfumer's ointment. In our day there is no end to the examples of men once respected for wisdom and honor who now have flies in their ointment.

I can sit in my easy chair and rail on these public figures and their indiscretions, but I need to be careful and you need to be careful, because it's not just public figures who are prone to contract this malady: you and I are just as susceptible. That cancellation of a thousand atta-boys, sometimes has held me hostage with fear.

I've held a school bus driver's certificate from the State of Arizona for about thirty-four years. I've had an excellent record with three employers:  Tucson Unified School District, twenty-four years; Vail School District, 8 years; and Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind for about two years in the early '70's.

In spite of my record, I often think about what would happen if I made just the right (or I should say wrong) mistake while driving a bus load of kids, or if I let the kids' behavior distract me at just the critical moment in this crazy city traffic.

What if something bad happened and it was chargeable to me?

I could entertain similar fears about other areas of my life. I have to wrestle my carnal nature into submission each and every day, and I bet you do, too.

Well, you and I as Christians can't go around as slaves to these kinds of fears. The antidote to living in fear of a fatal mess-up that would ruin one's good name and good testimony is found in a couple of biblical principles.

First, keep the armor of God on at all times (Ephesians 6:10-18). Don't cut the budget on your personal Star Wars Defense against incoming missiles of temptation or fear.

Second, never forget Christ Jesus' provision of forgiveness and grace for our screw-ups (read: sins).

If our military has a set of missiles to protect us from an incoming enemy nuclear strike, then we need to have the same for our spiritual defense in our personal lives.

Our military locates defensive capability in strategic locations, including submarines, aircraft, and sites on land. Our best defense is our tremendous capability of taking an offensive posture, that is, maintaining a "first strike capability." The Department of Defense never takes a day off for a holiday or vacation. In a similar way, our spiritual Star Wars Defense is largely found in keeping spiritually fit.

The basic exercises that provide the daily workout in our personal Christianity provide the umbrella of defense that protects us. Exercises like having personal devotions every day. Time in prayer and Bible study. Praising, worshipping, and thanking God for all He has done and will do. Keeping filled and controlled by His Spirit.

It's important to be locked in with a good Bible-believing congregation where much of your spiritual needs can be met.

Let me digress for one moment to show you why it's so terribly beneficial to be involved with a good church.

I was having an extremely difficult time recovering from a recent surgery, fraught with complications. But many friends and acquaintances at my large home church began praying for me.

My doctor was afraid we would have to re-do the surgery. But then the tide turned and my body finally began to heal. He canceled the surgery. Coincidence? Or my church praying for me?

Sharing our faith is analogous to the offensive or first strike capability our military maintains. It is a deterrent to enemies. We can hit them first.

Witnessing is going on the offensive against Satan. Also, I find that witnessing supercharges my strength as a Christian and my resistance to temptation.

For one thing, once your co-workers, neighbors or schoolmates know you're a Christian, they never stop watching your life. Knowing that helps me to mind my p's and q's and watch my testimony.

While maintaining our spiritual Star Wars Defense through the disciplines of the life lived for Christ is essential, another reason I don't have to live in fear of making a big mistake is the provision of forgiveness and grace God promises us in so many places in His Word. (See for example 1 John 1:9).

While not all sins are created equal in the sense that a speeding ticket won't carry the same consequences as car theft or murder, God's forgiveness is the necessary healing balm and ointment for all sin.

Even a dang, you screwed up! as Percival would have put it – a terrible mistake or sin that ruins a good name and reputation -- is not fatal if you turn to Christ.

A good example is Chuck Colson, who served prison time for his part in the Watergate break-in and scandal back in President Nixon's day. This ruined him as a person respected for "wisdom and honor." But look at Colson's life now. He turned his life over to Christ and has lived for Him for many years now.

Through his well-known prison ministries and other ministries for Christ, he has touched untold thousands of lives. That public respect for Colson as a person of "wisdom and honor" has been restored by the Lord many-fold.

If you, dear reader, have committed that major big screw-up that has severely damaged your good name and reputation, God can restore you, too, if you do what Colson did: turn your life over to Christ.

I served in a prison ministry for six or seven years at the state prison in Tucson. I fondly recall one brother in Christ who used to come to our services faithfully. He was serving a twenty-five-to-life sentence for murdering his wife and the man with whom she was cheating on him.

This brother had a genuine conversion to Christ, not just the so-called jailhouse conversion (phony conversion to gain advantage). His behavior in the prison system, as a result, was excellent. He got out after serving only 11 years.

Yes, his mess-up did some real damage to his life. But Christ helped redeem it.

My point is no mess-up, no sin, is beyond the help of Christ. I vote for more atta-boys and zero screw-ups. I strive to maintain the daily disciplines of living for Jesus. I don’t want to take advantage of His generous graciousness or live presumptuously.

While like you, I'm all too human, I don't have to be paralyzed in fear of failure because Christ Jesus is watching my back with His provision of forgiveness, grace, and restoration.

A good name and a good reputation are fragile things, but protection lies in maintaining the disciplines of that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.

His grace toward those who stumble or fall, when they turn to Him, is a marvelous work.