Faithbase

Hey, good morning, everybody. I wanted to share with you a bit of a conversation that I had in the gym recently I go to the gym. That's right across the street from my church I try to go as regular as I can. I want to be in the best health that I can be for my family for our church as to be an example of this gift that we have of this life and the truth of it is I put my earbuds in and I do my workout and I had a young lady come up to me dressed Not very modestly and frankly she asked well, she said you're the preacher across the street and did it a day She said be honest with you when you're in here. You're kind of Stand-offish and rude or it seems to be rude and I apologized told her. Hey, I don't mean to be rude I promise you I'm a nice person. I'm very talkative if we have a conversation that kind of thing But I had to explain to her I said as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in our town there's a lot of eyeballs on me and Specifically the way that I interact with other women who are not my wife my mom or my sister matters and I am still always trying to evaluate that line between Being a representative of Christ and representing him in the community and Guarding my reputation because I have to guard my reputation but not being too standoffish and not being too reserved and Coming off as a jerk And there's a balance there because Again, she wasn't she was dressed Not super modestly as a lot of young women in our culture are today when they go to the gym and frankly I feel like it's the best for my reputation to keep my eyes down to keep focused on what I need to do and protect that reputation So, what is that balance what is that balance between protecting our reputation and Protecting our reputation and not being a jerk or not being Pharisaical not looking like I'm holier than everybody else and oh if you drink or smoke or party or you wear unmodest clothes I can't deal with you. I Don't know but I'm thankful to have the Holy Spirit I'm thankful to have the Holy Spirit to pray and guide us through and we had a wonderful conversation. She completely understood it and She even gave me a bit of her testimony in her past about some bad relationships and mentioned So and so in my past would have had that same philosophy Of keeping his head down and minding his own business when he's around other women I Don't want to hurt my wife I Don't want my children to have to deal with that in public and I definitely don't want to hurt the gospel so I want to encourage you today that let's Think through what I'm thinking through every day. How do we protect our reputation? Protect the gospel But at the same time not come off as a Pharisee not come off as judgmental and holier-than-thou and those kind of things So I ask you to pray for me in that I will pray for you in that and if I can pray for you Any other way just shoot me a message. Let me know. God bless you guys. Have a great day