A Good Name- THE VALUE OF A GOOD NAME

When I was growing up my mother taught me the value of protecting the Fleming name.  My father taught me the value of protecting my credit.  While playing football at Ole Miss I was taught the value of protecting my image, as a team representative.  As a businessman, I was taught the value of protecting my professional reputation.  As a Christian, I have been taught the value of protecting my witness.  I have now come to understand that all of those values that need protecting are served best when I protect most the name of Jesus, whose name I carry.  Does this mean that we do not have a fight with that mission to protect His name?  Even Jesus didn't have a good reputation with certain people in His day, and it will be the same for us.  They hated Him, despised His name, and frequently slandered His good name.  It is with this in mind that I understand that there are many in this world that hate the name of Jesus and they slander and blaspheme His name on a regular basis.  They will speak poorly of my name as well, if I am openly and unashamedly identified with Him.  It goes with the territory, and I know this.  I can live with it for it was promised and should be expected, and honestly it is a good thing to be hated by people who hate Jesus.  It shows that we are living right in a wrong world.  But there is also a reason why we need to protect our name, for in someway our name honors or dishonors Jesus.  So my question to you is, "What do people think of when your name is mentioned?"

This week I want to explore what a "good name" looks like as a Christian man.  There might be some confusion, for some people will think this "good name" I speak of ranges from being impossible to hold on to, to being weird if you do.  I will assure you that it is neither of these.  We will never be perfect, and there will be those whose mission it is to remind of this.   They will herald their own "realness" and honesty with their imperfections as a means to put us down and make us look puritanical with even making an effort to have a good name.  These are scoffers, and their voice sounds so much like the Accuser.  Maybe it is because we are hearing the Accuser's voice rather than the people he uses?  Try to remember when you face such criticism that it is the voice of Satan that these people agree with, and because of it they have a greater concern with their own life than what they speak against you.

There are those who are jealous of our good name and they will do what they can to justify their criticism.  They will share their "concern" with others as a means to attack our good name.  These people are called gossipers and slanderers.  They are vicious while they remain in their dark shadows of deceit, but when Light falls on their intentions and hidden activity, like rats they run for cover to hide themselves.  They do this because at the heart of this person is a jealous, passive aggressive coward who delights in pulling a godly man down because they want to feel better about their own self.  If we want to have a good name, we cannot allow this habit to slip into our words about others, for we will be associated with a gossiper who most people want to avoid.

There are many today, because of the culture we live in, who think being good is not cool.  The anti-hero has become the hero of movies and TV and the school system.  We are shamed and told that being good is weird.  We hear it early on in schools where young Christians are told that they cannot pray in schools, salute the flag, stand for the National Anthem, live pure lives, or be identified with Christ without being ridiculed.  In these cases and with many people, we will not have a good name in their opinion.  But whose opinion matters to you?  A scoffer, a slanderer, an antagonist, or does Jesus' opinion matter the most?  Let's head toward the Light this week and see what He reveals.  Let's understand what He defines as a good name and let's find His point of view in becoming that man.