Theology Thursday 18 - God's Repuation > Mine

I am very concerned with my reputation. I want people to like me. I want people to think I’m funny. I want people to listen to what I say. I want people to think I’m good at my job. Basically, even though I graduated from high school over ten years ago, I still want to hang out in the cool area of the quad and I want everyone to know my name. I’ve come to realize, though, that God isn’t nearly as concerned about my reputation as he is his.

God cares more about his reputation than he does mine.

I am reading through Hosea and the first thing that God tells Hosea to do is marry a prostitute, Gomer. I imagine the stigma of marrying a prostitute in ancient Israel would be very similar to today’s stigma. No one I know wants to marry a prostitute; who would want to marry someone who practices unfaithfulness for a living? In spite of that, though, and the damage it would do to Hosea’s reputation, God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute.

Didn’t God know what marrying a prostitute would do to Hosea’s reputation?

Didn’t God know what marrying a prostitute would do to Hosea’s standing in the community?

Didn’t God know what marrying a prostitute would do to Hosea’s chances of eating lunch with the cool kids?

Yes. God understood all of these things but his reputation and his name and his glory were far more important than Hosea’s. God knew that Hosea’s marriage to a prostitute provided a living metaphor for what God’s people had done and through that metaphor God would ultimately be glorified, his name would be made greater. In the end, God cares more about his name being glorified than our own and so should we.

If given the opportunity to glorify ourselves or God, we should always choose God. He is the only one worthy of praise and his is the most glorious name. If God gives us the opportunity to grow his reputation at the expense of our own, we should take that opportunity every time; not because we shouldn’t necessarily care what others think about us, but because we should care what others think about our God more.

So any time we have the chance to give up our seat at the cool table to God, we should happily do it; he belongs there more than we do anyway.