The Value of a Good Name
By Daniel Fleet
What is your name worth to you? The Bible says in Proverb 22:1, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”
We don’t transact in silver and gold as they did in Biblical times, but we do transact in money and in what money can buy. What do you enjoy that money buys you? Maybe it’s the pursuit of a hobby, a comfortable home, fun vacations, or perks like getting coffee at your favorite drive-thru. The Bible says that your reputation matters more than all the money in the world and all that money can buy.
What is your reputation? Simply put, your reputation is what people see and know you to be. In an article posted on Psychology Today, the author writes:
“Your reputation lives a very real existence apart from you, representing the collective mental construct everyone but you shares about you, a construct based partially on your own actions but also on the perceptions others have about others' perceptions of your actions.
We only ever have influence over our reputation—never control—as is the case with all things external to us, but it remains one of our most precious assets (far more important than any one job, house, car, or even, some would argue, money).”
What is sobering about our reputation is that it’s not something we control; it’s something that we earn. The old phrase, “Your reputation precedes you,” rings true! People are constantly assessing you and assigning you the reputation your behavior and integrity have earned.
There’s a story in the Old Testament about the old prophet Samuel. He was at the end of his ministry and transitioning the leadership of Israel to King Saul. He addressed the people and said:
“I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. 3Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you. 4And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand." — 1 Samuel 12:2-4
Samuel stood before his community and, in essence, asked them: “Do I or do I not have a good reputation?” At life’s end, what kind of name will you have? What will people say about you?
Having a good reputation isn’t an end in itself but an outgrowth of the person you are striving to be. Let’s work today on having a good name, and let’s choose above other things. It’s worth more than all the riches in the world.