Proverbs 22

Take Care Of Your Name

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. Proverbs 22:1.

In some parts of Africa the natives have an unusual custom; they buy each other's names. So much money is paid for a share in another man's name, and a name is often changed in this way several times. I think it must be rather confusing, don't you? You go up to somebody and address him as So-and-so the name by which you have known him and you find that he is no longer So-and-so, but somebody entirely different.

I fancy there are many people in this country who would be very glad to purchase somebody else's name, especially if they could buy their character along with it. But we can't buy and sell names like that here, and so I am going to say to you, “Take care of the name you have.”

Now I wonder why names are such very precious things? Well, it is because your name stands for you, and for what you are worth. When people mention your name they think of you and of the kind of boy or girl you are, and so it is very important that you should have a good name and keep it. A lost fortune is sometimes found again, but a lost good name is very, very difficult to find.

But what does a good name mean? Well, it doesn't mean just a pretty name or a high-sounding one. Some of us are sorry that our parents have given us such plain names, and sometimes we envy the boys and girls who have pretty names. But it doesn't matter how plain your name is, you can still make it a good name, you can make it mean much to others. For a good name means a name for goodness; it means a reputation for all that is pure, and brave, all that is noble and honorable.

King Solomon tells us that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. And why is a good name of more value than great riches? Well, I think there are two reasons.

1. First, because riches are worthless without it. It doesn't matter how rich you are, if you haven't got a good name you won't have much happiness. Sometimes people have risked their good name to win riches. They have done things that are not quite honest to gain wealth, and then one day they have been found out. I wonder which they thought more precious then the good name or the riches. Remember that all the money in the world isn't worth your honor and your peace of mind.

2. But, second, a good name is rather to be chosen than riches because it brings things riches cannot buy. It gives us the love and the respect and the confidence of others; and these things are of much more value than mere money. You may have ten thousand pounds a year, but if you haven't a good name along with it, then you are a very poor person indeed. Nobody can rely upon you, and you are of little real value in the world. You may not own a dollar and yet be rich indeed because you have a good name, and a good name is the foundation-stone of wealth and honor.

Once a great scoundrel said to a man who was distinguished for his uprightness, “I would give a thousand pounds for your good name.” And when he was asked why, he replied, “Because I could make ten thousand by it.” That was a low and mean way of looking at things, but it showed that even that scoundrel knew the value of a good name.

Now you are just setting out in life and as yet you haven't made much of a name for yourselves. Is your name going to be a good one or a bad one? The answer lies with you.

Will you try to remember just other two things? The first is there is only one thing more precious than a good name, and that is a good conscience. Over and over again in the history of the world men and women have had to give up their good name for the sake of conscience, or righteousness, or liberty. They have supported unpopular causes because they believed them to be right, and other people have laughed at them and even persecuted them. We, too, may have to risk our good name in an unpopular cause or for the sake of someone who is being unjustly maligned. But remember that the people whom the world once laughed at are the people whom the world delights to honor now, and without them we should have made little real progress.

The other thing I want you to remember is that the best way to make and to keep a good name is to take the name of Christ upon you, to become His followers and to walk in His ways. You can never be quite sure that you will not lose your good name if you depend upon yourself; but if you ask Him to keep you near Him always, He will take care of you and of your name, too, all through life and in the life beyond.