BOAST IN THE LORD
Daily Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 8-11
Daily Focus Passage: Jeremiah 9
The prophet Jeremiah knew that genuine boasting occurred when people boasted about the greatness of the Lord. Likewise, the apostle Paul told the church in Corinth that they must boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31) and boast in their weakness because that revealed the power of Christ (2 Corinthians 12:9). Jeremiah provides three areas that believers must seek to boast in the Lord. We must seek to boast in the Lord's steadfast love, justice, and righteousness.
THE SINFUL FORM OF BOASTING
Boasting occurs when we attempt to build ourselves up before other people. We seek to inflate our value by boasting about our achievements, positions, and abilities. The boasting occurs as we place the self at the center of our universe and attempt to gain worship from our successes. The presence of pride and arrogance promotes the activity of boasting.
Boasting is sinful when we promote the achievements of the self. When we boast about our achievements, we attempt to elevate the self over the value of others. We seek to make the world be about us and fail to concern ourselves with the welfare or existence of others. We fail to journey with others because we spend our time boasting about our achievements and resting in them for our righteousness. This form of boasting is sinful and breeds sinfulness.
Boasting becomes sinful when we brag about our possessions and positions. When we boast about the material we own and our positions, we place our hope in things and the power of this world, not in the Lord. When we boast about our positions, we attempt to make people view us as important and influential. When we brag about our possessions, we seek for people to value what we own. Both approaches to boasting sinfully place one's foundation and purpose of life on the self and the things of this world instead of the Lord.
Boasting reveals our sinfulness when it centers on our strength and ability. When we boast of achievements and positions, we often brag of our strength and ability that secured them. Such a boast rejects the need for the strength of the Lord and declares a god complex where we attempt to make people believe we alone accomplished everything without the help or provision of the Lord.
THE FAITHFUL FORM OF BOASTING
The Bible commands believers to reject boasting about the self and the world. At the same time, the Bible declares that believers must boast about the greatness of the Lord. The apostle Paul and the prophet Isaiah speak to this reality. Both recognize that boasting about the Lord brings recognition to him, honors him, and reveals our proper understanding of his holiness and greatness.
Believers must boast about the steadfast love of the Lord. We must boast in the loyal love of God that remains faithful despite our waywardness. The steadfast love of God is not conditional but certain. God's love continues, though we fall short of his glory and remain unworthy. When we boast in the steadfast love of God, we declare the love that led the Lord to create a way to become reconciled with him through Christ. This statement is true because "while we were sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8).
Believers must boast about the justice of the Lord. The Lord's ways and actions are just. This statement does not mean we always understand the ways of God, but this truth means that we must trust that his ways are just. The Psalmist declares that the Lord is just in his work. We find that the justice of the Lord was on full display on the cross. Here, Jesus bore the sins of this world so that we could be found just before him when we have a relationship with Christ.
Believers must boast about the righteousness of the Lord. When we boast in the righteousness of the Lord, we declare that the Lord is right in all of his ways. This truth means that he is right in all that he does and, as a result, is the one that sets the guardrails of right and wrong—the righteousness of the Lord cloths believers through Christ. We can never live in righteousness before the Lord but are viewed as righteous because we become clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
When you evaluate and analyze your rhetoric, do you find yourself speaking in terms that bring the focus upon you? Do you attempt to boast about the activities you participate in and the possessions you hold? Do you seek to elevate the self by bragging about your positions and the tasks you believe you have accomplished in your strength and ability? Is your boasting in the Lord and the Lord alone?
