Proverbs 22:1 – A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

2 Corinthians 6:3 – Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:

Hello readers, back with a blog today. Today I’m talking about credibility. I just want to talk about two different people in the Bible. A Christian without credibility really has nothing. Imagine being so compromised by your own compromises in life, that people don’t take you seriously. When you say something, nobody will listen to it, because your sin and hypocrisy speaks louder to them.

We are commanded to be salt and light in this world. But Jesus said, if you’ve lost your light and your salt, what are you good for? Nothing. The first example I want to point out is Lot. The Bible says he was a righteous man, but he lost his credibility with the decisions he made in life. You may think you compromising on truth wins your favour and opens a door to you with people, but it really doesn’t. Maybe Lot thought he was being “all things to all people”, maybe he thought he was going to be a godly influence, and clearly he was in a position of influence in Sodom. He was a big dude in Sodom.

But what is lots of money, lots of friends, a social life, a social circle, activities, school for the kids, job security… what is everything without credibility? Lot exchanged credibility for all those things. He should’ve never been down in Sodom. It was a wicked city, and God was going to destroy it. Yet he was so out of tune with the will and plan and word of God, that he’s building a life in a place that’s going to be bombed off the map. It’s a bit like us investing our lives in this world, giving our time, energy, attention, effort, ambition, life to this world… but at the end of it, losing it all, because the only thing that matters is obeying Jesus Christ.

Genesis 19:4 – “And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.”

See how Lot lost his credibility? He had an urgent message. He clearly had some daughters that had married some of the men of Sodom. So he had daughters, sons in laws, and potentially children who knows… and he has the most urgent of messages. He knows destruction is coming, and he is the only one that can warn them and save them. But guess what? His word means nothing. What a horrible place when your credibility is so tarnished that you cannot make a difference.

Jude 1:22 – “And of some have compassion, making a difference:”

Jude 1:23 – “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”

Lot was unable to make a difference, he was unable to save with fear, he was unable to pull them out the fire. Fire was plunging through the heavens as he lost Sodom, and he left behind a city where he had made no difference and would have nothing to show for his life. You know, Satan wants you to lose your credibility. If we are meant to be living epistles, known and read of men, Satan can’t unsave you, but he can destroy your  witness, your testimony… your word. Lot’s word had no power to make a difference, what a sad place to be. Think twice before going into that sin, think twice before living presumptuously, think twice before embarking of a life where others will see your hypocrisy and disobedience to God, and dismiss your word because they see what a joke you really are… which you, just like Lot, evidently cannot see yourself.

The second person I want to talk about is a guy called David. So we’ve looked at a compromising worldly Christian example in Lot, but this guy called David is one of the greatest characters in the Bible. How on earth can he be in the same blog as Lot? Well, for all of David’s faith and obedience to God, and heart to obey and honour and glorify God, David also lost his credibility.

2 Samuel 11:14 – “And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.”

If you know the story of David, you know of his sin with Bathsheba. It would be good to familiarize yourself with it in 2 Samuel 11. David committed adultery, and tried to cover it up by getting Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to sleep with her husband so it looked like the child she was going to have was his. But Uriah was a faithful solider, and a mighty man in David’s army, and he refused to go into his wife while all his men are out on the battlefield unable to see their own family and be with their wives. What a man.

David cannot get Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba. So David, because he’s trying to cover for his sin, is going to add murder to adultery. He hatches a plan to kill Uriah. He wants to kill a guy who is faithful to him. Sin is that nasty, sin is that wicked, sin is that selfish. David sends a letter to the general of the army, a man called Joab. And Joab receives the letter and the hand of Uriah! Uriah carries his own death sentence, for it’s a funny little command in this letter.

2 Samuel 11:15 – “And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.”

Now, just imagine you’re Joab. You’ve been told to put this man in the front of the battle, and when the fighting is on, everyone else to retreat away while he’s fighting. Consider that Joab received the letter at the hand of the man he was told to murder. This is murder. This isn’t what David’s army is all about. This is wrong. But Joab carries it out, and Uriah gets killed. At this point, nobody knows what David has done. He knows it’s a pretty dog move, but you think Joab ever had a “duh” moment when he learnt about David’s sin with Bathsheba? You think he connected to dots? Oh, David had me kill this guy to cover up him cheating with his wife.

If you read anymore about Joab in the Bible, you realize that Joab did not respect David after that. David lost his credibility. He can write as many Psalms as he wants, he can bring the ark up, he can sacrifice to God, he can lead the nation in reforms in accordance to God’s word… but David’s credibility is shot. Think about people that commit adultery today, they’re always known for that act aren’t they. They can do so much good, but what is readily remembered, recalled and at the forefront of our minds when we think on them or hear what they say is the adultery that they committed.

2 Samuel 11:16 – “And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.”

2 Samuel 11:17 – “And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.”

David’s position was unquestioned as king of Israel. I’ve wondered why did Joab carry out that command. He must’ve surely wondered what is David doing. But he carried it out. But David’s word meant something before that. Nobody questioned him and his motives. I’m sure Joab thought, well if David has commanded this, there must be a good reason for it. But God brought the truth out, and David’ sin became known through all Israel. Think about what that did to David’s credibility. You know after that, Joab questioned David’s commands, David’s decision making, David’s credibility. We know Joab is a bit of a dodgy dude in the Bible, but he was a man of war, and he knew a dog act when he saw it. David was despised in his eyes from that day on.

You can be Lot, or you can be David. You may be a great Christian. But you can lose your credibility very quickly. You can lose your power with men. You’d surely like your word, your opinion, what you say to carry weight. Surely? That little allowance that you’re making in life to indulge yourself… it comes with a hefty price. All people are going to see in your life is the sin that you did. Imagine being a castaway as Paul wrote of, imagine your credibility being shot so that you’re useless to God, nobody is going to listen to you, you have no power to make a difference when it matters in someone’s life.

May God help us to look past that thing we want to do to see the end of it. Consider the end of your compromises you’re making on truth in your life. It may just be you get what you want, David got Bathsheba, but he traded his credibility for her, and it wasn’t worth it. He reaped so much for that one little sin he indulged in. These warnings are in the Bible so we don’t make the same mistakes, get grace, get your life under the blood, ask God for wisdom and prudence, see the end of that little disobedience, see a life without credibility. Our sin shoots our own credibility. Have your lost yours? Without credibility, we don’t have much as Christians, don’t give Satan an entrance to your life, don’t be ignorant of his devices, we need to smarten up and stop being so dumb… keep in the word of God, sincerely believe it and obey it, and don’t lose your credibility.

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