In His Name

I remember when my wife and I were trying to name our first son. My wife suggested a name she liked, and I immediately said, “No, I knew a guy with that name and…” I realized that my experience with knowing that man caused me to dislike his name. It was a perfectly good name and it actually had a great meaning, but the guy I knew had tainted my view of that name so much that I refused to give it to my son. (A similar discussion took place over many other names as well)

Reputation

“A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth” (Ecclesiastes 7:1)

In the Bible, a person’s name is more than an arrangement of letters, it is his reputation, authority and character. Having a “good name” has little to do with what your mother called you at birth, and is more about what people call you when you are not around. If you have a good name, that means you are spoken well of by others, and respected among your peers.

Have you heard the expression, “my name is mud”? It doesn’t mean your mother called you “mud” when you were born, it means that you have soiled your reputation. You have done something to embarrass yourself, or cause others to think less of you than before.

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