Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Ecclesiastes 5-8
Ecclesiastes 7:1
A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
The day of birth is a beginning. For the child being born there is no story, no lesson, no wisdom to be gained, but for the death of a person there is a story, there are lessons to be learned and wisdom to be gained from their life. One lesson of life is this: A good name is better than precious ointment. This is not the first time this sentiment is mentioned in the Bible, nor is it the last. From this verse there are a few thoughts on which to dwell.
One is that the number of days lived does not equate with the amount of life lived. Some live more life in 30 years than some people who live 100 years. Consider working at a job for 10 years. Some will say they have 10 years’ experience, but in that employment time which is it: do they have one year’s experience 10 times or 10 years’ worth of experience? There is a difference between the two. The same could be said for living. Endeavor to live life to the fullest. Enjoy the full scope of the human experience. There is much more to living than pleasure. There is heartache, there is joy, there are victories and defeats. Most experience health and illness, love and hate, faithful friends, friends who turn out to be unfaithful enemies, and enemies that turn out to be friends. The total human experience is just that, an experience. Some experiences are welcomed, some unwelcome, but all serve together to weave a web of experiences that teach, instruct, and bestow wisdom to each. Remember the old saying, “Some are so busy making a living that they don’t have time to live.”
Another thought from this verse is a “good name.” It takes effort to keep a good name. There are those who have this idea that “I don’t care what people think of me, I am my own person, and will only be true to myself regardless of what others think.” How far from the mark this thinking is. The Bible teaches otherwise.
Romans 12:17 …Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
Romans 12:18 …live peaceably with all men.
For Galatians 6:10 …let us do good unto all men…
I Thessalonians 5:14 …be patient toward all men.
I Timothy 2:1 …giving of thanks, be made for all men.
II Timothy 2:24 …be gentle unto all men…
Titus 3:2 …shewing all meekness unto all men.
And perhaps the coup de gras, I Peter 2:17 Honour all men.
By doing these things, anyone would have a good name. God puts a huge premium on treating others right which springs from the desire to please Him and this thing of having a good name. After all you may be the only Bible some ever read as testified by Paul’s words in II Corinthians 3:2. Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
Now, consider the day of one’s death being better than the day of one’s birth. What does it mean to the individual? For those who know not Christ nor His Gospel this only can mean in the temporal sense that their struggle is over. From birth to one’s passing life is a battle. Death ends that war. However, in the eternal sense, their real trouble is just beginning and will never end. For the child of God who has trusted Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, their struggle is over also. The physical birth brought them into a crass, sin filled world of difficulties and work. The spiritual birth that Jesus talked about with Nicodemus in John 3 brought them into a new life, a new existence. The death of their bodies is considered to be sleep. They awake to live in Heaven for all eternity. While it does not seem like it now, things are much better on the other side of the grave than they are in this world.
On and on this could go. Just know this, every life is teaching others lessons of that life and having a good name is a great goal that is well worth working toward. Just like precious ointment, a good name emits a sweet aroma.
Dr. William T. Howe
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