Before anything else: God loves you all the time, including on the days when you do something wrong. His love does not depend on your behaviour.
In your class there is always one person the teacher calls when she needs real help. Taking a message to the office, looking after the new child, keeping something important safe.
Have you ever stopped to think how that person became that person? It did not happen in one day. It happened over lots of small days: they arrived on time, they told the truth, they gave back what they borrowed, they did what they said they would do.
That has a lovely name. It is called a good name. And it is something you build very slowly, a little bit each day.
And today's verse teaches something surprising about it. When somebody spoils their good name, that name does not vanish into thin air. It goes to another person.
Which means the teacher still calls somebody. She just starts calling someone else.
And this is not meant to frighten you. It is meant to show you that a good name is far too valuable to swap for something quick, like copying in a test or telling a little lie to look better than you are.
And look at something beautiful that Jesus did. Once, a woman who had done something very wrong was brought to him, and everybody wanted to accuse her. Jesus said: I do not condemn you either. Go, and do not do it again.
Notice the two parts. He did not pretend everything was fine, because he told her to stop. But he did not keep throwing it in her face either.
With Jesus, you can always start again.