BOASTING

Then what becomes of our boasting?  It is excluded.  Romans 3:27

            If Jesus took all the wrath that I deserved upon Himself, then what is there for me to boast about?  Only that “I am a sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”  (John Newton)  I have nothing in myself to make God happy enough with me to earn a place in heaven.  Lest I’m inclined to wallow in worthlessness, God turns around and offers love and redemption in the form of Jesus.  My horrible condition is eclipsed by undeserved favor.  I’m invited to live in joy rather than self-loathing.  The One who has every reason to despise me doesn’t.  This is the good news of the Gospel.

            Yet in spite of this, pride still nips at my heels.  It is the most dangerous of all vices.  C.S. Lewis described it this way. 

“Boasting is essentially competitive. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.”

            So what does the Christian sometimes boast of?  The size of our ministry.  Church growth.  How smart our children are.  How much we’ve read, how much Bible we know, how many hours we pray, the list can be pretty long.  We can be really clever and preface everything with, “By God’s grace….this is true.”  But in the human heart, only we know if it’s a way to boast without apology because humility appears to be present.

            Oh, how insidious pride is.  The only way to stay on top of it is to stay in the scriptures and hold the glory of Christ up as a mirror to my soul.  Everyday, I need the comparison.  I need the counseling of the Holy Spirit to help me see myself as He sees me.  He is the One who gently reveals the first inkling of pride and reminds me again how much the landscape of my soul needs the cleansing of the Word.  Without it, I will be hungry for attention, greedy for praise, and act on my perceived need to be out in front so that I can soothe my ragged self-perception. 

            Satan declared that he would ascend to God’s throne and take His seat.  That pronouncement was the beginning of his downfall.  Boasting in anything other than the glory of God is ruinous.  It destroys my chances to share Christ with others.  Jesus is beautiful.  Jesus is full of glory and what He has done in me must become the point of all my stories. 

Show me how aggressive I need to be against any pride in my soul. Today, I want Your glory to be on full display.  Amen