Proverbs 22:1-16
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
Proverbs 22:1
and favor is better than silver or gold.
Our culture says that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett epitomize success. Why? Because they are rich — wildly rich. But material wealth is not a proper measure of success. True success is found in living honorably and with integrity, following the Lord, not in accumulating material wealth. How do these men stack up on the true success scale? I really don’t know, as I do not know their hearts, nor do I keep up with billionaire gossip, but my guess is that there are millions of people more successful than they.
But what about us? Just because our bank accounts don’t put us on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index doesn’t mean that we aren’t tempted to sacrifice our good name for the sake of material gain. This proverb applies to us as much as to the super-rich. If anything, it is even more applicable because if a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, how much more so is it than small riches?!