A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth.  Ecclesiastes 7:1 HCSB

You’ve probably heard someone speak of the dash. On most tombstones, the person’s date of birth is listed and there is a dash followed by the date of death. What will your dash represent? When people hear your name, what will they think?

Our scripture passage begins by telling us that a good name is better than fine perfume. For those who know you, when they hear your name they associate it with something whether it is good or bad. We hear some names and associate them with goodness. We hear other names and associate them with evil behavior.

We determine what people think when they hear our names by the way we live our lives. We were put here to please God and to be in fellowship with Him. We are told in Galatians 1:10, if we worry about pleasing men we can’t be a servant of Christ. We are told in Romans 12:2 we should not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of our mind and that by testing we may discern what is God’s will and what is good, perfect, and acceptable. Proverbs 29:25 says that the fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 says we speak not to please men, but to please God who tests our hearts.

Our goal should always be to please God. If that offends others, we can’t concern ourselves with that. But, God tells us that when we attempt to teach others it should be with gentleness and patience (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Proverbs 16:7 tells us that when a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies at peace with him.

People won’t always speak kindly about us no matter how we live our lives. There will always be critics and those who set out to hurt us with their words. But our goal is to please God. When we aim to please God, there will be more good said about us than bad. When we imitate Christ and exhibit the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control) we please God.

The second part of our scripture passage says that the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. When we accept Christ as our Savior and live a life that pleases the Lord, we can rejoice in our death. We can look forward to going home to spend eternity with our Lord and Savior. We can look forward to our master saying to us, “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).

Some of you may wonder what people think when your name is mentioned. Some may feel you already know. But I challenge you to be more concerned about what God thinks about you. Do you think a smile comes to his face? Does He shake his head? Does His heart break over your disobedience?

Will the day of your death be much better than the day of your birth? Well, it can be. If you trust in the Lord as your Savior, confess your sins to Him and earnestly repent, your physical death here on planet earth will be the best thing that will ever happen to you.

When people say my name, I want to be associated with godly living. I want to be known as someone who loved the Lord with all her heart and all her soul and all her mind. I want to be known as someone who did my best to imitate Christ and someone who was faithful.

I don’t really care if everyone likes me, I just want them to know that I love the Lord and I put Him first in my life. The rest doesn’t matter. I don’t need my dash to represent fortune and fame, I just need it to represent a life of faithful service. I have wasted too many years of my life wanting to be known for other things.

Since I have dedicated my life to Christ, I want people to know that I know if I put Him first, He will take care of everything else (Matthew 6:33). But most of all, I want people to know they too can have the joy I have found. They can live a life filled with the fruits of the Spirit if they will only trust in God.

In these uncertain times there are two things we can be sure of if we strive to please the Lord: first that our name is associated with goodness and secondly the day we die will be much better for us than the day we were born.

Have a great day!