"Hello My Name Is" Song of Solomon 1:3


What Women Want Part 3:  Song of Solomon 1:3




In the blog
two weeks ago we established that King Solomon obviously knew how to treat
women right if his love said he was, "more wonderful than any other."
(Song of Solomon 1:1 NLT)

If we as men
and boys want the ladies in our life to think we are more wonderful than any
other we must have three things: a personal relationship with them,
pleasant hygiene, & a pleasing name.

We have already taken a look at the first two things on the
list, a personal relationship, and pleasant hygiene.  Today we will look at how "pleasing his name" was (Song of Solomon 1:3)
In the first century a name was chosen to identify your
character it wasn't something that was chosen from a book of names or because
the parents say it on a sign and thought it was "cute."  Which I have to admit is why I chose my
son Jackson's name.  Are you interested
in what your name means?  

Click on
this link to find out:  http://www.behindthename.com/


To have a "pleasing name" means much more than
just having a nice sounding name chosen by your parents.  It means you have a good reputation, when people hear your name mentioned it is pleasing to their ears.
To expand a little more on this concept of a good name or
reputation, lets look at another statement Solomon wrote in the book of
Ecclesiastes 7:1, "A good reputation is more valuable than the most
expensive perfume.  In the same
way, the day you die is better than the day you are born."

Why do you think Solomon says this?

An expensive perfume or cologne is nice.  It makes you smell nice to yourself and those around you but what is the ONE big problem with perfume?  It eventually will wear off!  That is why a good reputation is better than perfume because a good reputation will be remembered forever.

Solomon points out that if you die with a good name, you can no longer do anything that will tarnish that name, that reputation you have built.  But on the day of your birth, you have an entire life before you, unwritten. No one knows the impact you will leave behind.  It might be good and it might be bad. 

Some of the greatest achievers who ever lived will be remembered negatively by future generations as failures, because, after performing magnificently early in their respective vocations, they did not finish well. Some that come to mind first are Richard Nixon, Pete Rose, Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson, and there are multitudes more.

Can you imagine reading your own obituary to see what other people thought about you?  Alfred Nobel actually had that opportunity. Around the turn of the 20th century, Alfred's brother passed away. The next day when Alfred picked up his morning paper to see what was written about his brother he was stunned to discover HIS OWN obituary! The paper mistakenly printed that Alfred had died not his brother!  The obituary written for Alfred Nobel described him as the inventor of dynamite. Alfred realized the legacy he was leaving was associated with death and destruction but he had been given a second chance to rewrite his legacy. With input from friends, he decided to invest some of his wealth to honor those who furthered the cause of peace in the world. Today many know that Alfred Nobel invented
dynamite, but he is better known for another of his creations—the Nobel Peace Prize.

It is interesting to note that God changed multiple people's names in the Bible to match the character and reputation they had developed. Abraham, Sarah, Daniel, Benjamin, Jacob, Paul, Peter, to name a few of the many examples.

Why is this important?
Because, it gives us hope that if we have not made a pleasing name for ourselves up to this point we can still have our "names changed" before we die so that we leave behind a good reputation and a pleasing name.

A few
thought provoking Questions:
1.  If I died
today what would my wife, kids, coworkers, or neighbors say about my
reputation? Is my name pleasing to
them?

2.  If I died
today what would God say about my reputation?  Is my name pleasing
to Him?

3.  Do you need
to work on changing your "name"/reputation before it is too late?

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