A Good Name

Pro 22:1 ESV
(1) A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches…

We find in Proverbs 22:1 that “A Good Name” is to be chosen. This means that it is something we take part in. We have a choice in “Our Name.” I’m not focusing on The Name that is above every name, Jesus Christ. Though I pray that he is central to and in everything that I write. My focus today is that it is a name of choice. In other words, it is the public face of who and what we are. Our Good Name.

In American Heritage, at least until the last few generations, the handshake was the means of legal and social agreement and understanding. Thus the term "We shook on it." The handshake was backed only by "A Good Name."

Jer 33:6-9 KJVR
(6) Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
(7) And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
(8) And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.
(9) And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.

In Jeremiah 33: 9 we find that God is declaring that his action will bring about to him a name of joy, a praise and an honor, before all the nations of the earth. This is what I’m talking about today. Our actions, both public and private, will be the stones from which “Our Name” is built.

Often we act as if we live alone on an island and it doesn’t matter what we do or say because nobody else sees or hears. Furthermore, who cares anyway? Intellectually, emotionally and spiritually, we know this isn’t true. But somehow we “act” as if it is. This is why we can treat our spouses as if they are Royalty in public but behind the private doors of our own castles we barely tolerate them, easily insult them and live in the snide world of insults, followed by the ever present justifier, “just kidding” accompanied by an impish smile.

The Apostle James understood this very well. And so he wrote:

Jas 1:22-27 KJVR
(22) But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
(23) For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
(24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
(25) But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
(26) If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
(27) Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Be a doer and not just a hearer. A doer has a good name. A Hearer Only also has “a name.” A Hearer Only thinks he has everyone fooled. The stoic smile of the spouse and children of the Hearer Only tells the story as the façade is painted every Sunday morning.

The Apostle James continues to show his profound understanding of the issue:

Jas 2:14-17 KJVR
(14) What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
(15) If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
(16) And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
(17) Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Faith alone is a Hearer Only. Faith with works is a Doer.

We knew a family once that we thought was the model Christian family. They loved the Lord. They loved each other. Years later, the wife now trying to keep body and soul together and now truly living for the Lord, told us that it was all a farce and a fake life. It was only a public image to be worn when at church, in and around town and even in their home when entertaining company. What a shock when life erupted and the façade came down. Is it a wonder that one child is living for the Lord and the other child struggles with life in general? Probably only the spouse and children know for sure. And our Lord, of course. (I am not ruling out the Gift of Discernment or other Spiritual Gifts that worked through the Ministry to try and salvage this family. Only that the ruse continued until a total collapse of the family was obvious to all and the “Good Name” destroyed)

Luk 6:26 KJVR
(26) Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

The Apostle Luke wrote of the Lord warning us about all men speaking well of us. Why is this? Wouldn’t we want men to speak well of us? Isn’t this what I’m talking about here anyway? Our Loving Lord was warning about caring more about putting on a face and a front than simply living a Christian Life. In fact he basically says that if you’re following the Lord that “all men” will not speak well of you. He wrote just prior in verse 11 that “they would cast out your name as evil.” This is why the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 14: 16 that we should not let our good be evil spoken of. And the Apostle Peter wrote concurring words in the First Book of Peter, Chapter 3.

1Pe 3:16-17 KJVR
(16) Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
(17) For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

These great Apostles are saying that we should live it right. Talk the talk and walk the walk. If our deeds are good then the bad reports are lies and we should rejoice. If our deeds are evil, then the reports are true and that is “Our Name.”

Again, the words of The Lord through the heart and hands of Jeremiah the Prophet:

(9) And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how honorable people truly saw “Our Name.” Not your clique or circle of buddies. But those who know you. Not the evil ones who might lie. But those who really see through our dimly ly lit exteriors and into our “real names.”

If I have a name for being rude, it is because I am rude.
If I have a name for being unfriendly, it is because I am so.
If I have a name for being selfish, it is because I am.
If I have a name for being nasty, it is because I am.
If I have a name as a gossip, it is because I gossip.
If I have a name for being snobbish, it is because it is so.

Do we not really know who and how we are? Deep down inside, we really do know. Behind the paint and dim lights, I know who I really am.

If you have a Good Name, it is because you have chosen it. You have prayed and sought God’s help to establish Your Name, in all of the earth.

If I have a name for being kind, it is because I am.
If I have a name for being generous, it is because I am.
If I have a name for being friendly, it is because it is so.
If I have a name for caring for others, it is because I care.
If I have a name for being a Christian, it is because I am.

Shouldn’t we spend more time in earnest prayer, seeking to let Christ transform our present name and nature, than simply applying another coat of paint or reducing the lighting so others can't see so well?

Act 11:26 KJVR
(26) … the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

May it be that I, and you, are called Christians in our homes, by those who know us and love us and are true witnesses. And by those others that we know, KNOW!!!

Are we perfect? Never…
Shall we continually strive for a Good Name? Always and Forever...
In Jesus Name…


Next: A good name is better than precious ointment

My Tree

Often we beings of the earth simply push through the dense forest of life while carrying our own personal tree. As life swiftly rushes by we simply proceed with our little tree that we first took hold of so long ago. Now we are simply satisfied to carry our tree, day after day. After all, it is all that we know. We've carried it for years. As we walk through the forest we never take the time to see that our tree is not the only tree in the forest. In fact, it is the only tree that we really do see. My desire is to put another tree right in your path and cause you to stop and smell the coffee. The aroma, wafting from around the smooth trunk of the slim little tree, planted right in your path, smells so good. And then you notice, "what a pretty little tree. And so different from my own. And to think... I can plant my tree and not always carry the same ole weight on my shoulders." What a Practical Approach to Walking through life's garden, side by side with God.

Pro 3:5-6 ESV
(5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
(6) In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Perhaps one of the most difficult things for Christians to do is to "Not Lean On Our Own Understanding." After all, we learn from our experiences walking with God. According to Proverbs chapter 2, we seek for it, search for it, ask for it and God gives it to us. And again in James we simply ask.

Jas 1:5 ESV
(5) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

If we are not careful, we learn a method of walking with God and never question as to if we learned it correctly. Or perhaps better said, is there a more perfect way. For example, there are many "techniques" or "rituals" we run into during our walk with which we might agree or disagree. One that comes to my mind is what is called the "Sinners Prayer." It seems quite wrong to tell someone words to speak, or to simply repeat after me, during a time of sincere heart felt repentance. However, the roots of this doctrine probably came from sincere people trying to help someone voice their heart's remorse during a time of soulful prayer. It is easily justified because sometimes people do not always know how to speak words of repentance or they feel unworthy to do so. And so someone decided to help. Now that method has evolved into "Salvation" for many denominations. I personally disagree with that as I don't see its use in the scriptures. Yet as a young boy I did believe it. Haggai 1: 7 says "Consider your ways." Yet just try and get someone who really believes in it strongly to stop and reconsider their ways? It isn't too hard to get a sinner to understand that they are in desperate need of God. But it is a whole different matter to get a Christian to reconsider something they have done for years.

We should always remember... If we are hesitant or refuse to hold any of our religious practices, methodologies or doctrines up for review under the revealing light of God's Word and Spirit, we are simply just carrying around our own personal tree within the forest of the Kingdom of God.

Paraphrasing Matthew Chapter 7, Verse 21:

"Lord, Lord, Look at my tree. Its so nice. And I've been carrying it around for thirty years. Thousands have seen my tree and been blessed."

The Lord replies "It was never planted. It was never watered. It never grew and actually never helped anyone. It is dead, and by the way, who are you?"