Great Name or Great Riches?

     As you can see the picture included in this post kind of dates me a little.  Uncle Scrooge McDuck starred in the cartoon series called "Ducktales."  Now I am not at all promoting this show within this blog necessarily.  Oftentimes there are many things in our lives that we can see an illustration of how simple minded many people are today.  Uncle Scrooge was a man that lived only for money.  Everything that he did surrounded the need for getting a little more.  In his mansion he had a gigantic safe where his money would be kept.  A daily ritual that he had was to go into that safe and swim in all of his money.  This was his love, his passion, his joy!  This is a sad description of our society today.  Money drives people!  Money is the control and the reason for which most people live today.  We live in such a vain and purposeless world. 
     In Proverbs 22:1 the Bible says, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold."  Each one of us have been given a name.  All of our life we build something by which we are known and that is our reputation or our testimony.  You spend a life time building what people think about you.  Understand that we do not live for what people think about us, yet we are commanded to be a light or a reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ to those around us.  The reality that what takes a lifetime to create can be destroyed in just a matter of minutes.  Our actions speak very loudly.  What do people see of Christianity when they see you?  In verse 4 of this same Proverb, we see "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life."  The real riches are found when we place the Lord and everything about Him as first priority in our life.  When God is #1 in our life, we will not have to worry about our reputation or our testimony because you will be living for the Lord in having a desire to please Him in all that you do.  Many people couldn't care less about the name that they have when it comes to gaining wealth.  They are willing to sacrifice a great deal in order to gain more.  What are you willing to sacrifice in order to exalt the name of Christ today?  Be willing to value the name that you have been given, CHRISTIAN and live to be a follower of Christ today!