I have been thinking lately how I have relied so much on my own abilities. I would say a prayer to God to add a spiritual element to do what I had to do and when I succeeded, I would be proud of my achievements. Relying on my education and experience made me less dependent on God and that is a scary place to be. As I read Charles Spurgeon’s devotion recently it got me thinking of my pridefulness.
O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that thou hast no ground for it. Whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor. Consider thine origin; look back to what thou wast. Consider what thou wouldst have been but for divine grace. Look upon thyself as thou art now. And all that He has done.
I am forever indebted to God for every ability He has given me. They are not of my own. Every achievement I have is His because He is the source of everything. I can just thank Him for all He has allowed me to do. My only boasting can be that I know God.
This is what the Lord says: “Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the mighty man boast of his might, nor a rich man boast of his riches; but let the one who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24
How great it is to boast in the Lord and all that He has done. There is no one like Him. I can do nothing without Him. It is so marvelous to be known by God. A deep relationship with God transcends anything and everything. So many are empty as they seek to be known by multitudes of followers and fans who change like shifting sand. Celebrities need to appease the people all the time and try to hide behind a beautiful façade to carry on a pretense of grandeur while inside many are dying, lonely and hurt, grasping at anything to soothe their hungry souls. They have not yet found God and they are not known by Him. Churches cannot fulfill the need of a relationship with God. It is personal and has to be done on an individual level. They can, however, point you in the right direction to deepen your relationship with Him so you can then boast of Him.
For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:13-14
We have nothing in our flesh to boast about as Christians. Our boasting should be in the cross of the Lord Jesus, happy that we too are carrying our own cross for the sake of Jesus and sharing in His suffering. It makes no sense to be happy about our suffering, but when it is done in Christ, we know these trials are making us become more like Him. This is foolishness to the world. But we can rejoice always in the light yoke and easy burden of Christ. We can boast of Him as our Savior, our Lord, our Brother and our Friend. We can boast about Him and we can be proud that we are His and He is ours.
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