Good Name

I was asked to share the eulogy/sermon at the homegoing celebration of a friend's Mother on Thursday.  The passage in Proverbs 22:1 immediately came to mind during my prayer and preparation time.  The first part of that verse makes this declaration; "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches..." (NKJV).  The words "good name" began to sink into my thought process.  We hear those words spoken often about people who are living as well as those people who have passed from this life.  In the beginning of my thinking I put together this idea; we don't have much sway over what people may say or think about us and in some ways that is true because we can not control the thought processes of another human being.  But as I begin to study this thought even deeper; I realized that we do have some control or at least some input to the other person's decision making process. 

You may ask, "How can I have this control or input into the other person's thoughts?"  We have the ability to influence and impact other people through our actions, our reactions, our words, our lifestyle, our commitment to friendships, and a host of other activities that can have either have a negative or positive impact on other people.  The majority of people that I know would never purposefully conduct themselves in such a manner that would leave a negative impression of themselves.  But we are human beings and we do have the ability to fail and there are times that we will fail at presenting to other people the right impression of our character or integrity. That is the reason that we make sure that we are doing our best to take care of our "name" in such a way that when people hear our name called they are not disturbed or angry.  I know that we do not have 100% control over the thoughts of other people but I want to remind each of us of the need to conduct ourselves in such a manner that people can speak well of us.  We need to make sure that we are allowing the work of Christ to be revealed through our lives and through our actions.  We need to represent Him (Paul called us "ambassadors" of Christ) in such a manner that Christ is glorified in us and through us.  The preparation of this eulogy called me to examine myself even more closely and to make sure that I still have a strong desire to live in a manner in which Christ is being revealed and declared.  I want to live with a "good name" and I want to leave a "good name" behind when it comes my time to pass from this life.