Boastful: January 2, 2013

TODAYS WORD FOR WEDNESDAY JANUARY 2, 2013.

BOASTFUL

DEFINITION:

To speak with exaggeration and excessive pride especially about oneself; rejoice proudly; to speak up with excessive pride or vanity; bragging.

SCRIPTURE:

In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name forever. Psalm 44:8

This is what the Lord says: Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. For those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know Me and understand that I am the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Most of us have met or know someone who is always boasting about something he or she has attained or accomplished. We have seen the rich flaunt their riches, the powerful brag about their power and the educated boast of their knowledge. Boasting may give a person a boost to their ego but boasting is not a positive trait. Boasting tends to drive a wedge in a relationship.

Occasionally, we would hear one of our children boasting that they were better at something than another one of our children. This usually led to an argument about who really was best. We would often respond with something like, remember pride cometh before the fall.

I (Ken) remember some years ago a young man working in our warehouse at World Opportunities International. Constantly, day after day he was telling those he worked with and those from the inner city that came to our warehouse for food, story after story about some great accomplishment he had done the day before.

It did not take long for his peers and those that talked to him each day to find out that he was just a boaster and needed the attention. Most of the people we know who are boasters have very low self esteem and are very insecure.

The scripture tells us that we should not boast about ourselves and what we have done. There is only one way that we should boast and that is to boast about our relationship with Jesus and what He has done for us and through us as a result of His enabling power. People put a lot of value in riches, power, wisdom, knowledge, social status and appearance and they like to boast about them. These are all “things” that are temporary and can be taken away at any time. God does not value these “things” but what He does value is when we recognize that we know Him and love Him with all of our heart.

The opposite of a boasting person is a person who is humble.  Humble people do not boast about themselves. They recognize that boasting is merely self-commendation. As believers we should seek the Lord’s commendation. It is the Lord’s commendation that matters. “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one that commends himself, who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” II Corinthians 10:17-18.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Romans 5:8.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

PRAYER:

Give me a spirit of humility as I touch the lives of my peers. Help me to take advantage each moment of today of all that I have in Christ. Help me not to boast about anything I have done but to boast only about what Christ has done for me.