by Webster’s 1828 defines fame as being renowned or a celebrity, one of great actions that exalts their character. Today, fame is more closely associated with wealth and popularity.
In 1 Kings 10:1-9, the Queen of Sheba visits King Solomon to witness his “fame.” Some say she came to see his wealth and popularity. However, 1 Kings 10:1 states that she wanted to know about “the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord,” and to authenticate this “with hard questions.” After “Solomon told her all her questions,” the Queen was convinced of exactly where Solomon’s “fame” rested.
If our wealth, wisdom and popularity were set aside, where would our “fame” reside? Will it stand the test of “hard questions.” Does it stand firmly in “the name of the Lord?” Is it drawing a lost world to ask for “a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). After All, our only hope is “the name of the Lord.” It was this Name that triumphantly road into Jerusalem to die for our sins (Matthew 21:9-10). It was this Name that we called upon for our eternal salvation (Romans 10:13). It was by this Name that we were baptized (Acts 10:47-48). It is through this Name that we are to serve our Savior by taking “the hope that is in you” out to a lost and dying world.
After the Queen was convinced about the truth of Solomon’s “fame,” she said, “I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me.” This statement is powerful and real for us today. Our testimony before the world is only half the story but it should be powerful enough to draw them to hear the whole story.
We are to “shine as lights in the world” revealing that our “fame” rests in “the name of the Lord.”
“Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.” (Philippians 2:14-16)
