love your enemies, damage your reputation

I recently read an amazing post on www.stevenorman.org. I loved what Steve had to say, but what hit me the hardest is the comment left by "S." I have no idea who "S" is, but I will say he or she hit the nail on the head. Too many times in life I think people forget why we do what we do. It's to make God and only God famous, it's to love unconditionally knowing your Father in heaven loves you the same. Even if that means to love those who seem unlovable. I know that I am the type of person who wears their heart on their sleeve. A friend of mine once described me as a person who calls a spade a spade, which can translate as both a strength and an opportunity for improvement.

When I am struggling with someone who I think is unlovable, I do two things;

1. ask for forgiveness
2. ask God to give me the love he has for that person

It may seem simplistic, but I will tell you I truly love all people because of the love God has given me for them.

Below is Steve's post, don't forget to check out the comment from "S" at the bottom. My only advice is this, go ahead and damage your reputation by loving others.....

John Wooden, legendary basketball coach from UCLA says “Your character is who you are. Your reputation is what other people think you are.”

The catch is only you and God know how close those two really are. Some people think more highly of us than they ought. From the outside, we appear to have all our stuff together. As a result, our reputation exceeds our character. For others, there’s a litany of bad choices with their name on them. But they’re making progress in their own journey, even if their critics can’t see it yet. In their case, their character is actually outrunning their reputation as a shady individual.
When we focus on rep. over character, we embark on a slippery slope. The temptation is to say “Everybody thinks I’ve got this issue nailed down. As long as I continue to portray that as the case, I can do whatever I want.” How many public figures have we seen maintain a public persona that’s at complete odds with their private behaviors? The problem is, unless you have an entire PR firm or publicist at your disposal, there’s very little you can do to manage your reputation. Your character, both it’s defects and its development, rest entirely on your lap.

s

Well said. Chaacter is what we do when others aren't looking. Character allows us to love our enemies, even if it damages our reputation to do so.