Names.

"A reputation may be repaired, but people always keep their eyes on the place where the crack was."

-Anonymous

"It takes a very short time to lose a good reputation but a long, long time to get another one."

-Muncie Evening Press

"No one raises his reputation by lowering others."

-Anonymous

"Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than having silver or gold."

-Proverbs 22:1 NLT

"A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold."

-Proverbs 22:1 NKJV

What's in a name? Is it just a tag given to us by mom and dad? Is it something to be put on the refrigerator list of daily chores? Is it an aid to help teachers know who got the A in algebra? Maybe it's combined with a Social Security Number for use by the IRS.

When a person asks, "Who is that?" the response is usually a name. A name, however, really does not identify the whole person. Names do not give value or reputation to a person; a person gives value and reputation to a name.

Suppose I mention a few names. The first thing that comes to your mind will be their reputations. Give it a try:

Judas

Benedict Arnold

Solomon

Saddam Hussein

Billy Graham

Adolf Hitler

Madonna

Britney Spears

Walt Disney

What you read are names. What you thought are reputations. You can divide (I'm sure you already did.) the list above into two groups: Good reputations and bad reputations. Did the names make the people good or bad or did the people make the names good or bad? We know, the people made the names.

Have you ever met a child named Judas? Probably not! You don't meet many, if any, Benedicts and Adolfs either. Why? Because those names carry bad reputations.

A good name! A good reputation! You'll have a hard time having one without the other. So to choose a good reputation is to make a name good. We can't do much about our names, they've been chosen at or before birth. We can, however, choose a reputation that will honor the name.

At the National Civil War POW Cemetery in Andersonville, Georgia you will find the tombstones of 12,000 soldiers. Most of these died while imprisoned at the stockade in Andersonville. Six tombstones stand together in the cemetery, kept separate from the others. These tombstones mark the graves of six prisoners who cruelly took advantage of their fellow prisoners by beating, robbing, and even killing. When tried by a jury of their fellow prisoners, the Raiders as they were known, were found guilty and hanged on a gallows inside the prison the next day. Their names are probably not much different than the others who died there but their reputations are worlds apart.

The six names? Cary Sullivan, William Collins, Charles F. Curtis, John Sarsfield, Patrick Delaney, and A. Muir. These men left behind reputations as traitors, thieves, murderers, and thugs. They were executed, given dishonorable discharges, and brought shame on themselves and their families. On special patriotic holidays when small American flags are placed at every one of the 12,000 graves at the cemetery, security guards are posted by the graves of the six traitors to be certain the flag of the United States of America is not placed at or near their tombstones. These men chose riches for themselves over the well-being of the other prisoners. They had their great riches, for a short time. They harvested ruined lives, ruined reputations, and ruined names . . . even today, over 140 years after their executions.

"Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than having silver or gold." Our riches will one day belong to another. Our names, our reputations, will always belong to us.

What's in a name? Lots!