“…I thank my God throughJesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” 

Everyone is known in some measure by what they do in life. That is especially true for men, but it is also true for women as well.  We may be known as a teacher, a truck driver, a factory worker, a mechanic, a computer technician, an office worker, a business man (or woman), a homemaker, a caretaker, a photographer, a baker or a thousand other occupations.  And while all of these things are meaningful and important they only define what we do.  They do not define who we are. 

In writing to the Church at Rome, Paul was blessed by the fact that they were known by their faith in Christ!  In fact, their faith in Christ was known all over the world! 
Whenever anyone spoke of the Church in Rome, people everywhere identified them as genuine followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Of all the things we could be known for, the most important thing that we could be known for is to be a genuine follower of the Lord Jesus Christ!  Yes, we should be known as people of  excellence in  all that we do in any field of work or service. But above all it should be our desire to  be known as a genuine follower of the Lord.  In other words, when people speak of us, they not only speak of the excellent work that we do, but they also attest to the fact that our faith in Christ is evident, genuine and real. 

So while it is not our goal to seek the favor and the affirmation of others, it should be our goal to have the reality of our walk with Christ and our faith in Him affirmed not only by those inside the Body of Christ but by those outside of  it as well.  And if we make the effort to live what we say we believe, and we do it with a measure of consistency over a long period of time, it will become known.   And the reality of that should cause us to rejoice in the Lord and bring glory to Him and not unto us. 

James W. Black