Today

Today, February 29 - About our reputation

 I am right now reading a book by Geoff Ryan: "The Siren Call of a Dangerous God".

In the book I read this quote from William Booth: "You see, we have no reputation to loose".
I do not know where Geoff found this quote, but I think I understand what William Booth is trying to say: The lack of reputation makes us free. People already think we are fools. We dare to speak up against the authorities, we dare to say things that are not politically correct because we have nothing to loose.


I am afraid that we today think in a different way. Don´t we often think and say: "You see, we can not do that, we can loose our reputation.

Later in the book I read another quote from William Booth that nore explains how he was thinking:
"Everybody has settled it that we are fools, if not a great deal worse; therefor we can go into a town and do exactly what we think best, without taking the least notice of what anybody may say or wish. We have only to please God and get the people saved, and that is easily done."

Last week we read something similar in "Simple Musings for Simple Living":
"Göran Skytte is one of the Swedish ”celebrities” who has been converted to the Christian faith recently. Göran Skytte’s book describes his conversion and he told that when it was about to be published he received a lot of advice from people in his circle of acquaintances. Most people advised him to withhold his confession, otherwise he would be declared to be a fool. But Skytte was not afraid of this and he said something like: ”however low you set the standard, there will still be a crowd who believes that you have gone too far”

I think that William Booth and Göran Skytte make the same point: You can gain a lot by being declared a fool. Then you have nothing to loose. The you can be radical for Jesus.

/Peter Baronowsky