A Good Name Is Better Than Precious Ointment

Joshua obeyed, the walls of Jericho fell, and his name became known among the nations. Until the shout went up, the people made no sound at all, and after that obedience God himself raised Joshua’s name high.

A name carries a person’s faith, character and the years they have lived. God honors the name of one who has lived according to his will, but service offered to win human praise, however splendid it may look, bears no fruit. Just as the fragrance of costly perfume lasts only a moment, so an empty name that exalts people soon fades away.

Greed and bribery bring down even the wise and discerning. The pride that set out to make a name for itself is left at last as ashes, but whoever lives for the name of God comes to be named alongside it. The word calls believers to use their own names for good, for the sake of that name, the most beautiful in all the world.