I have often counseled  with people that said, “I’ve become a Christian, but I have such a bad reputation.  How can I change it?”

Those who find themselves in this situation need to realize that although their sins have been forgiven, the consequences of their sins were not erased.  Your reputation is a part of those consequences and may not be easily changed.

There at least three practical ways to begin the change in other people’s minds:

1. Start living your life differently.  Apply your Christian faith to your actions everyday.

2. If you have wronged someone, go to that person, apologize, and make restitution.

3. Realize that you’ll never be able to run down and correct all the gossip and opinions of others.  You must let people see how you’ve changed so that they can form new opinions.  And that will take patience.

Many of the early Christians did not accept or trust Paul immediately following his conversion.  He had a bad reputation of killing Christians.  His life was changed so abruptly and he demonstrated this daily.  It was not long until they knew that he was a different man.