Fathers represent Christ to their children, so what they do speaks more loudly than what they say; they provide either a godly example or a carnal, worldly one. Rapha, the giant of Gath, illustrates the poor example. He raised his sons, including Goliath, as men of war who hated Israel. Even after Goliath fell to a youth, an evident miracle, Rapha never showed humility or told his sons that a mightier God was at work. War after war, he let each son die in turn, in effect offering them to his pagan gods by repeatedly throwing them against Israel (I Chronicles 20:4-8). Ornan the Jebusite stands in contrast. Though descended from royalty and from a people long at war with Israel, he recognized the God of Israel and David as His chosen ruler, submitted humbly, and gave David his threshing floor and offerings (I Chronicles 21). His sons followed that good example and lived. A bad upbringing, however, is no acceptable excuse. Grown children must evaluate the models they were given and choose rightly, as Rapha's adult sons could have done but did not. Parents must live what they preach, and all can look to the perfect example of the Father and Christ.

The concept of poor example emerges throughout this material as the counterpoint to the credible, gentle, and gracious character God calls His people to display. A poor example is fundamentally marked by inconsistency between word and deed—when what a person believes conflicts with what their actions or speech suggest, credibility is damaged, making that person a false witness of God's way rather than a true one. This inconsistency includes deception, whether deliberate or unintentional, bearing false witness, refusing to admit mistakes or ignorance, and breaking promises, all of which cause others to feel cheated, forgotten, or unimportant. Poor example is also revealed through corrupt and careless speech. Words function as either weapons or tools, and destructive speech—rooted in bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and malice—corrupts relationships much as rotting fruit spoils. Idle talk, endless disputes, foolish arguments, and rambling conversation that benefits no one are described as loveless acts and a waste of spiritual energy. Similarly, poor listening—distracted, dismissive, or interrupting—reflects disrespect and a failure of common courtesy, showing that one's own words are valued above another's contribution. A significant example of poor conduct is drawn from the disciples James and John, nicknamed the "Sons of Thunder," who wished to call down fire from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village that refused Jesus hospitality. Their ferocity was mistakenly thought to be appropriate zeal for God, but Jesus rebuked them, reminding them that He came not to destroy lives but to save them. This account illustrates how a harsh, vengeful spirit—rather than gentleness—represents a corruption of true Christian character. Poor example is further tied to worldly wisdom, described as earthly, sensual, and demonic, contrasted with wisdom from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, and full of mercy. Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil work follow. Loud, vehement, boastful speech is specifically noted as disqualifying a person from being trusted as a wise counselor, since true wisdom is calm, mild, and gentle. Society at large is also cited as fostering poor example through pop culture's erosion of civility, evident in hate speech, vulgarity, and disrespect—particularly on social media, where anger and rash words destroy relationships. Abraham Lincoln's practice of writing "hot letters" he never sent is offered as a model for avoiding this pitfall, contrasting restraint with the impulsive, damaging communication common today. Ultimately, poor example is depicted as a failure to imitate Christ, whose gentleness, meekness, humility, and self-sacrificial love stand as the perfect standard. Where His followers fall into pride, harshness, insincerity, or self-interest, they misrepresent both His character and God's way of life, undermining their calling to be genuine, credible examples to the world and to fellow believers alike.

The theme of a poor example emerges through contrasts between reputations wisely built and those recklessly squandered, illustrating how a name—once attached to dishonorable conduct—becomes a source of shame rather than honor. Several illustrations show how individuals or institutions damaged their standing through folly. Political figures such as Richard Nixon and William Jefferson Clinton are presented as examples of people who, in their later years, seemingly craved a good name and peace of mind more than the power or riches they once pursued, having built reputations marred by scandal and broken promises. Clinton, in particular, is depicted as scrambling to manufacture a "legacy" to offset a record of dishonesty and failed initiatives, raising the question of whether he would rather be remembered for actual sterling character than for unfulfilled political claims. A more communal illustration of poor example appears in the account of Ambassador College students who, while wearing clothing identifying them with the institution, behaved disgracefully—destroying furniture at a resort and engaging in a public food fight. Their conduct caused lasting harm, leading venues to ban all Ambassador students from returning. This account demonstrates how individual misbehavior, when publicly tied to a shared name, can tarnish the reputation of an entire group, fulfilling the warning of Ecclesiastes 10:1 that "a little folly" can corrupt the honor built over time by many others. These cases of poor example are deliberately set against the ideal of a "good name," emphasizing that reputation is not inherent in a label but is earned through conduct. Just as Proverbs 22:1 and Ecclesiastes 7:1 teach that a good name surpasses riches and precious ointment, the negative examples reveal the opposite trajectory: reputations built on selfishness, dishonesty, or carelessness lead to disgrace rather than honor. The broader spiritual application extends this principle to those who bear God's own Family name. Believers are warned that if they adopt that name yet behave in ways that bring dishonor upon it, they become "worse than the infidels" they might otherwise criticize. This connects directly to Paul's rebuke in Romans 2:23-24, where the name of God is blasphemed among unbelievers because of the hypocrisy of those who claim to follow His law. The cumulative effect of these poor examples reinforces the warning that reputations, whether personal, institutional, or divine in origin, are fragile and built over time but can be destroyed quickly through careless or sinful behavior. The call to self-examination that follows—asking whether one's own conduct would serve as convincing evidence of genuine faith—ties the negative illustrations back to the central message: that every person bearing God's name carries the responsibility of reflecting His honor rather than becoming another example of folly that undermines the dignity of that name.

America serves as a striking illustration of how greatness and goodness are not synonymous, functioning as a "poor example" of what a richly blessed nation should become. The reflection begins with a local radio station's tagline proclaiming broadcast "from the greatest nation on earth," a self-congratulatory assertion that proves unsettling rather than reassuring. On one level, this claim of greatness is technically accurate, though not in the way intended, since God Himself applies the term "great" to an adulterous capital city and its unfaithful nation ten times throughout the book of Revelation. Yet greatness in this biblical sense carries no positive connotation; it describes magnitude and influence, not righteousness. This nation has undeniably received extraordinary blessings from God, regardless of one's view on Israelite ancestry: providence shown to the Pilgrims, a Judeo-Christian ethical foundation underlying its Constitution, and abundant natural resources. Yet Jesus Christ's words in Luke 12:48 establish that greater blessing demands greater accountability: "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required." This principle transforms blessing into responsibility, and by this standard, the nation has failed. The culture exported globally exemplifies this failure, with little pride to be taken in what has been produced and shared with the world, even as freedoms, government, and technology are celebrated as abstract ideals. The mixture of good and evil at every turn has increasingly tilted toward evil over time. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's 1978 Harvard commencement address reinforces this point, warning that wealth and progress pursued merely for their own sake produce spiritual emptiness and destruction. He explicitly refused to recommend Western society as a model, describing it as spiritually exhausted compared to the deep suffering that had produced spiritual intensity elsewhere. This spiritual exhaustion manifests despite outward religious activity; while spirituality may appear to thrive, Christianity itself has grown so weak that conservative Christian groups in Africa now send missionaries to re-evangelize increasingly liberal Christians domestically. This reversal underscores how far the nation has drifted from its spiritual potential. Anthony LoBaido's controversial 2001 article, written the day after the September 11 attacks, pushes this critique further by suggesting that the nation's values—lust, greed, gluttony, revenge—mirror those attributed to Satan in the Satanic Bible, explaining why Muslims might view America as satanic rather than simply being irrational in that assessment. The cumulative point is that this nation has possessed perhaps the greatest potential of any modern nation to glorify God, given its blessings and influence, yet has failed miserably to fulfill that calling. Greatness without goodness becomes not an achievement but a liability, a "poor example" demonstrating that abundance, freedom, and power mean nothing of true value unless accompanied by righteousness.