A GOOD NAME ~ Precious Victor Akah

Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”

When some individuals read this Bible passage above in the flesh, they scoff at it, because the devil interprets it to them as: Being poor with a good name is better than being rich. In other words, a decision to have a good name is a decision to be poor. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

Because this can't be what God is saying in this verse; it cannot be, because God Almighty Himself owns riches and wealth, silver and gold, yet He has a good Name.

Abraham, the friend of God, had great riches and wealth, yet he also had a good name. King David in the Bible and Joseph both had riches plus good name. So having a good name is not synonymous with being poor. 

So what then is God saying here? I believe what God is saying here is, as a child of God, when you're presented with the choice to build a good name or to maintain the good name you have built over the years and a choice to increase your wealth or get rich quick through ungodly means that will soil your name, you should choose to build or maintain the good name you have. Why?

This is why: a good name is better than ungodly riches. A good name is a name dipped in integrity, robed with honor and crowned with favour. With a good name comes honor, and most especially, favour. The second part of Proverbs 22:1 says, "...and loving favour rather than silver and gold”. One of the cheapest ways to earn the favour of people is to have a good name.

A good name naturally attracts the favour of men. If you step out to buy essential grocery items for instance, you usually would go to a supermarket or hypermarket with a good name. The same thing happens when you want to eat in a restaurant, you rush down to a restaurant with a good name. You don't think twice before going to a store with a good name to buy whatever you need. 

So, as long as the store keeps maintaining its good name, you'll keep patronizing them. The store doesn't need to engage in rigorous 40 days fasting and prayers to attract customers, it just maintains the good name it has built and customers will keep rushing in.

Apple phone is loved and used by many people around the world, why because, it has a good name. It is not the only smartphone in the world, but millions of people rush to buy it because of its long-standing good name. When you have a good name, you don't beg people to favour you, people just naturally favour you, leading to your prosperity in life. This is why it is very foolish to think that a good name attracts poverty. No, it doesn't! A good name in fact attracts riches.

Unfortunately, even though the Bible encourages us to choose a good name over great ungodly riches, a lot of people, even in the house of God, are doing exactly the opposite because of love of money. Their feet is swift to collect bribes to increase their wealth; they run to acquire wealth through illegal, ungodly, and immoral means, and end up losing the good name God has given them as children of God. Do not join them! Do not sell the good name you have for fake riches.

If you've already soiled the good name the Lord gave you, you can retrace your steps back to God and plead for mercy. If you come to God with a contrite heart, He'll forgive your sins and clean up your name with the precious blood of Jesus and give you a new name, or He'll restore and help you rebuild the good name you previously had, as the case may be.

Stay blessed.

Also Read Last Week's Blog Post HERE