Solomon closes the book of Ecclesiastes with these words. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Each of us have been given only one life. What will we do

with it? Life. It's not a game. And in this journey through the book of Ecclesiastes,

Scott Pauley will guide us to better understand the true meaning of life.

Do you have a good name?

Abraham Lincoln said that if you take care of your character, God will take care of your reputation.

I absolutely believe that because a good name is connected to a good

nature. The secret to having a good reputation is to have a heart that is right before God and

others. We've come today to Ecclesiastity 7 verse number one one, where the Bible says, a good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

Now, this expression, a good name, is only found twice in Scripture, and interestingly enough,

both times it comes from the pen of Solomon.

The other, you may want to write in the margin of your Bible, is Proverbs 22, verse number one,

a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold.

You see, you get to choose your name. That's right. You get to choose it. You didn't

get to choose your physical name. You may not have gotten to choose what somebody called you,

but you do get to choose your reputation. It's funny, we live in a world where everybody wants

a good name, a good reputation,

and few people are willing to do what it takes to get it.

You can choose it, and you can even change it.

You may have a bad name, a bad testimony, a bad reputation that can be changed.

They said that a man was brought before Alexander the Great one day who'd committed a crime,

and his name was Alexander.

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