What have you bragged about lately? I know we’re polite people who don’t brag (out loud). But what do you daydream about in the car when no one else can hear you? What does your heart want to brag about in those moments? Think back and see what you find….
They say that everyone worships, that even the atheist puts something on the throne of his heart. We are made to worship. Hit songs indicate many of us worship romance. Others worship achievements or strength or intelligence or wealth or health or beauty or power or physical fitness—everyone worships SOMETHING. If you’re not sure what, maybe you are simply a worshiper of SELF. Lots of people are. (I’ll let you in on a secret: I am most vulnerable to the temptation to worship achievements. I like to reach GOALS.)
Bragging is connected to worship. The thing you boast about may be the thing you worship. Be sure it’s the right thing. If your treasure is something temporary, what will you do when it is gone?
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom, nor the strong boast of their strength, nor the rich boast of their riches, but let him who boasts boast in this—that he understands and knows ME, that I am the Lord, showing kindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight’” Jeremiah 9:23-24.
Paul shortens it: “As it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’” 1 Corinthians 1:31. He repeats it in another letter: “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” 2 Corinthians 10:17.
Paul was an incredible achiever. His resume and education are among the best recorded in scripture—and he wrote 13 books of the Bible (more than anyone else—14 if you count the book of Hebrews, whose authorship is officially unknown).
Paul recounts his STAGGERING accomplishments, achievements that humble the rest of us. And then he says he considers it all rubbish, “compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord” Philippians 3:8. Nothing compares to knowing Christ.
God, train our hearts to boast in YOU, to be thrilled by YOU, to worship YOU.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 