Character vs. Reputation

“Character is who you really are. Reputation is who people think you are.”

A speaker made this statement recently and I’ve been pondering it since. I’ve heard character defined as “who you are when no one’s looking.” Experience tells me these statements are true because too often I’ve discovered the public face people present is not always an accurate reflection of who they are in private. In other words, what you see – or think you see – isn’t always what you get.

Perhaps the classic current example of this is Jerry Sandusky, who for decades built a reputation not only as an accomplished chief assistant coach to Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, but also as a man with great compassion for troubled boys. This “great compassion” many presumed Sandusky possessed turned out to be the mask for a devious sexual predator.

If only we could see behind the masks.

This distinction between character and reputation is particularly significant at this time of year as political candidates desperately seek to convince us of their worthiness to be elected. They are all putting their best face forward, enticing us with ready smiles, clever rhetoric, apparent concern and genuineness. They're selling us an image. “Would I lie to you?” they all seem to be asking, sincerity oozing from their pores.

But that’s the problem: We really don’t know these people. We only know what we see – actually, what they’re willing to let us see. And their opponents are eager to make us believe what we think we’re seeing isn’t true at all.

How do we determine who’s right? I’d like an easy answer to that.

But that’s why character – and not reputation – is most important to God. In 1 Samuel 16:7 we’re told, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Perhaps to underscore that point, Proverbs 16:3 says, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”

Good character gives birth to a good reputation, but a good reputation does not ensure good character.

As I watch those aspiring for public office make bold promises, assuring me they are far more capable and better suited for office than their opponents, I think, “I hear their words and see their polished gestures and expressions, but wish I could see their heart.”

At times I’ve been disappointed to learn people weren't who I thought they were, but apparently that’s not a problem the Lord ever had. As curious followers clamored for Jesus after witnessing His miraculous acts, it says, “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man” (John 2:23-24).

In a way, that’s good news: I needn't bother trying to fool the Lord, or attempt to convince Him I’m something I’m really not. He knows already. And He says, “I’ll take you as is.”