This past Christmas, a toy store worker in Thailand spend an entire week painstakingly putting together a 2,432 piece model for a client, only to have his cat destroy it in seconds!  

A problem like this one is annoying, but the model can be fixed.  But what does a man do when he spends his whole life building a good reputation, only to have it all destroyed by a few moments of anger?

Aaron Hernandez had a troubled youth, but all that changed when he started playing football.  Hernandez became an outstanding football player with the NFL and was soon to sign a contract worth millions of dollars, but, in 2013, in a fit of anger, he killed a man and went to prison, where he committed suicide in 2017.

There must be a million stories in the history of men who threw it all away because of sin.  The warning to us is clear: it can take you years to build a good reputation and only seconds to destroy it.

Eccl._10:1, Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

Let’s all determine that we will all build good reputations with both God and men by living our lives for the Lord Jesus Christ.