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Day 146, or May 26. There's no respect these days. Our thoughts today are rooted in Job

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29, verse 25. I chose the way for them and sat as their chief. I dwelt as a king amongst

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his troops. I was like one who comforts mourners.

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What's the big picture surrounding this verse? Job becomes the grumpy old man we always suspected

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he might be. He looks back through his rose-tinted spectacles, to the days when everyone respected

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him, young and old, when he was somebody, and everyone knew it. Now all that has changed.

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He's lost everything and his reputation, too. Gone are the days when young men stepped

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aside to let him pass. Gone are the days when even mature leaders would cover their mouths

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rather than interrupt him when he spoke. Job felt he had earned all these privileges. They

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were his right. Now he had lost them due to no fault of his own. Circumstances had robbed

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him of his lifestyle, and even more, his beloved family, and no one understood why, least of

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all, Job.

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And now today's action step. Isn't it great when your reputation brings privileges for

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you to enjoy? Well, that isn't the case for all of us, and sometimes holding on to our

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reputation is not the best course of action. It's interesting to check what Jesus thought

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about reputations. Mark's Gospel reminds us of his words in chapter 12, where it tells

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us, Beware of these teachers of religious law, for they like to parade around in flowing

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robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and how they

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love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head-table at banquets. Yet they shamelessly

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cheat widows out of their property, and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers

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in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.

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Reputations should not be built for their own sakes. More importantly, we have a duty

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to be the best witness possible, for Jesus' sake. Remember, Jesus came to serve not to

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be served, and we are to follow his example every day.