Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not a mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things.” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:23-24 NASB

When we’ve got something that everyone else wants, we love to brag don’t we? We like to show off that shiny new sports car. We like to flash beautiful jewelry. We even like to show off that gorgeous new person we are dating. We like to boast and brag. But, be careful because the Bible warns us that we are not supposed to do that. That is pride and we know that God hates pride.

There is one thing that God is happy for us to brag about, though. That’s our relationship with Him. He likes for us to show that we know Him. Those of us who really know Him know that to know Him is to love Him. When we love Him we want to please Him. When we love Him with our whole hearts we are considered His children. Now that is something to boast about.

But why is it that it is so easy to show off our material possessions, but so hard to tell someone about what Jesus has done in our lives? Well, their could be several reasons for that. One thing is that when we show of material possessions, people tend to ooh and ahh. They commend us on our fine taste and probably think that we must be doing well financially to obtain such things. When we try to tell people about Jesus, we are unsure of how they will react. They may reject what we have to say and not want to hear it. They may call us a Jesus freak. They may pretend to listen attentively, but then laugh and talk about us behind our back. We may even think that to let people know that we lean on Jesus makes us look weak.

I have to admit that there was a time when I called myself loving the Lord, but I didn’t boast about it. I could boast about all sorts of things that I had no business boasting about, but not my relationship with my Lord and Savior. I didn’t honor God, therefore He did not honor me. It was a pretty simple equation, but I didn’t have sense enough to figure it out. I thought I was smart, but I soon came to realize that I’m not so bright when I don’t pray for God to give me wisdom and discernment.

If we have any amount of intelligence, then we need to have sense enough to know that it came from God. If we have great physical strength, then we need to know that it came from God. What money we have is what God has blessed us with. These are things to praise God about, not to boast about. God gives us these things so we can use them to serve Him.

So if you just feel like boasting, boast about God’s goodness, His mercy, His lovingkindness and His righteousness. The best way to boast about these things is to simply extend the forgiveness, kindness and mercy you have received from God to others. Then everyone will see what you’ve got and those who are wise will want that for themselves. They may see your peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). Who doesn’t want peace in their lives, right? They may ask you how you got that. Then you can boast about the fact that you have a relationship with the Lord who provides all you need. You can tell them how you simply focus on Him and He gives you all you need and then some (Matthew 6:33). You may be able to lead them to the Lord when they see what you’ve got.

Have a great day!