Your Rep

Ecc 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment”.  Well I’ll admit I don’t use a lot of ointment, but I see here that God wants you to have a good name.  A good name, that’s what we might call your reputation.  Why should God’s children have a good rep?  Well, think about it, how are you supposed to lead someone if no one is following you?  And how can you be the voice of hope, or faith, or doing the right thing, if no one is listening to you?  If you look and smell like the sinners of the world, then the world will not know you belong to Christ.  When the sinner embarks on the journey to find God, they won’t know to come see you for directions. 

Proverbs 22:1 says “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.”  It is common practice to believe that it doesn’t matter what others think, only what God thinks.  In context of who we should be set to please, well this rings nicely.  But according to the scripture, it matters what others think too.  It’s both God and man that matter.  We love God and others.  God wants our name to be good.  Like great riches.  God even promised to make your name great. 

Okay, so how you can have a good name?  The good name is the reflection of the character and integrity with in you.  Even if that name were falsely accused or lied about, just as Jesus and Paul were lied about, your life of integrity and character will win out in the end.  John Maxwell says “If a good reputation is like gold, then having integrity is like owning the mine.”  DL Moody wrote, “If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.”