Integrity vs Riches : A Good Name is Better – Why Your Integrity Matters
Reasons abound why you should choose a good name rather than riches. We live in a world replete with all kinds of vices. In this latter days too, the fear of God is cast to the winds amongst many.
It may be tempting to toll the paths of those who have amassed wealth by fraudulent means. When you are put in the position of power and you have access to all that pertains to life, will your integrity still count? Will you proclaim Christ by the kind of life you live in your work place, business place, home, church and wherever you find yourself?
Why should you care about your integrity?
There are many reasons why you should care about a good name and right morals. This world is just transient. At the end we will only be remembered for the kind of lives we lived. If a history book was to be written about you, what would be the content of such a book?
Moreover, the bible already makes it clear that a good name is better than riches. (Prov. 22:1).
Stories have been told of how the good deeds of a parent lived after him to earn favours for the progeny who knew little of how the father worked to earn it.
In the end, all the struggles for money, wealth and affluence will not be carried to the grave, but a good name lives after the one who has earned it here on earth, and is still recognized in heaven.
So it is better to manifest and reflect the life of Christ as a Christian everywhere. Do not compromise your faith, your stand or the greater hope we have in Christ to follow the ways of the world.
1 John 2:15 tells us not to love the world nor the things in the world, as those who love the world do not have the love of the Father.
It is indeed love for the things of the world that is the bane of many atrocities in the world today. We live in a world where people can do anything – kill, steal, etc. for money. At the end you need to ask yourself: will I leave this world with this money.
People who have had all the riches and lacked nothing that their flesh desired have testified of the vanity of all the cravings. Solomon in all his wealth and riches testified that all is vanity and a chasing after the wind.
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:14)
But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. (Ecclesiastes 2:11)
Now it is appointed unto man once to die and after this, the judgement, where we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ to give account of what each one has done while in the flesh. (Heb. 9:27; 2 Cor. 5:10).
This is a scriptural truth. Christ’s new commandment portends love for God and mankind. Those who belong to God hearken to His voice and follow Him (John 10:27). If we love God, we will keep His commandment as Jesus says in John 14:15.
Having the consciousness of the word of God in our hearts is good to crave and walk by.