This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV
Have you ever had a conversation with a big mouth, blowhard. You know the kind I’m talking about. The know it all. This guy knows everything about everything. I honestly believe you could try to talk to this guy about something you just invented and he would pretend to know more about it than you do. Then you have the guy with the money who loves to brag about all he has. This is the guy that likes to tell you how much money he spent on everything. This is the guy who loves to pull wads of cash out of his wallet and flash it around. Then there is this muscle bound man that loves to throw his weight around. He loves for everyone to know that he is stronger than they are. This guy tends to be a bully and if you watch who he picks on, it is usually the smaller guy or the woman that he usually winds up in an altercation with. I hate listening to these people talk. My sister used to always say that the man who talks the most does the least. The guy flashing the wad of cash around is probably flat broke. He probably just got that to pay a bill and it will be gone in an hour. The guy who knows it all is the one that is likely to do the dumbest things if you stick around long enough to watch. The guy who boasts about his strength, well like I said, he is usually the bully that would run from someone bigger. Well, guess what. God doesn’t care for this type of bragging either. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that God hates pride. Proverbs 16:5 tells us that “the arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” Galatians 6:3 says “if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself”. I could go on and on with verses in the Bible that tell us that God hates pride.
Now you may ask yourself out of all the sin that we commit, why does God hate pride so much? Well, let me put it to you this way. Say you save and save to buy someone close to you a really nice present and you give that person this gift. Then let’s say that this person goes around showing off this beautiful gift that you have given them and when someone asks them where they got such a beautiful and expensive gift, they say, “I bought it”. What? They give you no credit whatsoever. Now I know you wouldn’t buy someone a gift just so they could brag to their friends about what an awesome, friend, fiancé’, or spouse that you are. This is not why we give people presents. But when they don’t acknowledge that you gifted them with something so nice, it kind of stings doesn’t it? It leaves you feeling insignificant and unappreciated. Well, imagine how God feels when we don’t acknowledge the gifts that he gives us. If we are wise, that is from God. If we are blessed to have wealth, that is from God. If we are blessed to have great physical strength, that is from God. Jeremiah 1:5 says that before God formed us in the womb, he knew us. He knew before we were born that we would have wisdom or we would have strength. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. God plans to give us a good life. If we have a good life, I mean a really good life, it’s because we have sense enough to trust God.
If we are going to boast about anything in this life, it should be about what God has given us and what God has done for us. Without God we don’t wake up in the morning. He determines whether or not we are allowed to take another breath. We are foolish to boast in what we have and in what we can do. Phillipians 4:13 tells us that we “can do all things through Christ who strengthens us”. Without God we are nothing and we can do nothing. If you want to brag, brag about the fact that you had enough good sense to accept Christ as your savior. Give up your foolish pride, they don’t call it foolish for nothing.
So the next time you find yourself about to open your mouth and boast on something that you have or something you have done, remember where you got that. Remember to credit the One who gave it to you. Without God we are nothing and we have nothing.
My prayer for you today is that as you go through this day, you remember to thank God for all that He does for you and all that He has given you. Give God your thanks and your praise, it will be good practice for when we get to heaven. And don’t be too shy to brag to others about what Christ has done for you or what He has given you.
Have a great day!