CHARACTER VRS. REPUTATION

It has been rightly said: “Reputation is what people think you are, but character is what you really are.

People of bad character with good reputations appear altogether different before the eyes of God than they appear to men. These are like those Jesus rebuked saying, “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God,” and of who He said were “like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of bones of the dead, and of all impurity” (Luke 161:15; Matt. 23:27)

A good reputation is the inevitable fruit of a person of good character. D. L. Moody said, “If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.” But a good reputation is also something that can be fabricated; the illicit product of a person of bad character that has nothing in common with who and what he really is. Elbert Hubbard was referring to this when he said, “Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.” Henry Ward Beecher said, “Reputation is sometimes as wide as the horizon, when character is but the point of a needle. "Character is what one really is; reputation what others believe him to be.”

People of good character and reputation inspire and edify people. People of bad character and good reputation, when they arre found out, do the opposite. Who and what they really are has a way of suddenly and shockingly becoming apparent when they’ve felt comfortable enough to “be themselves,” and have exposed themselves by something they’ve said or done. The disappointment and quiet discombobulation of soul felt by those who witness this is rarely, if ever, forgotten.

People of bad character often expose themselves when they impugn the authentic good reputation of others by way of insinuation, innuendo, and outright lies. Someone has said that, “The way to find out about one man, I have often found, is to ask him about another.” Shakespeare wrote, “He who steals my purse steals trash …  But he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which makes me poor indeed.”

The impugning of a good man or woman’s reputation constitutes an assault on their character and violates the spirit of the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” It is character assassination. Bad character coupled with a good reputation is something to be repented of. Good character coupled with good reputation, wherever it is found, ought to to be revered and respected.