Did I Boast Less?

It’s coming to the end of Week 4 and I’ve only written one post about “Not Boasting”.  This is partly because it’s pretty self-explanatory and I haven’t found many angles to write about. But did I find myself boasting less? Did I find myself listening more? I think I tried a little harder to be more aware of what others wanted to say. But I’m not sure I really got the whole point of not boasting. So let’s look at what the bible says about it.

Paul talks about boasting a lot in his second letter to the Corinthians. I think this is funny, because as you know his first letter to the Corinthians includes the whole basis of this campaign, the 15 Love attributes that we are following. So I think it’s a little funny that in his second letter, he had to dive into detail here about boasting, when he made it clear that love does not boast. He says in Chapter 10 verse 17, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”  Translating to JJ language: “Can’t you go a few minutes without boasting?! Geez, if you absolutely HAVE to boast, at least boast about your God!”

I DON’T think the point is that it’s good to walk around boasting about God (remember how annoying bragging can be?), but I think the point is that if you can’t stop yourself from boasting, at least boast about something that makes sense to boast about, like for instance, the Creator of all living things?

If I walk around boasting about God constantly, I don’t think I’m necessarily in the clear.

Then in Chapter 11 verse 30, Paul starts talking about how if the Corinthians feel the need to MAKE Paul boast, he’ll only boast about his weaknesses. He justifies this by showing that in his weakness, He shows God’s glory. But he’s saying he’ll do this because they are forcing him to boast. (It’s a complicated letter, Paul gets pretty worked up and VERY sarcastic in here, have a read.)

So can I safely boast about God and my weaknesses? The bible makes me think that it’s at least SAFER than boasting about myself. But I still don’t think God wants us to do it.

When Paul wrote that ‘Love does not Boast’, he actually meant that we just shouldn’t boast. Period. Walking around and saying every weakness we have (boasting in weaknesses), or constantly praising God out loud for all to hear (boasting in God) isn’t necessarily a welcoming, inviting, loving thing to do. It basically turns people off to you and God. I don’t think God likes it when we make Him look bad.

Please don’t get me wrong, I love worshiping God and praising Him. I’m always trying to be more thankful and acknowledge all the amazing gifts He’s given me. But if I’m constantly telling you about how wonderful God is, doesn’t it kind of feel like I’m trying too hard to make him look good? And doesn’t that kind of make him look bad?

Think about it like this. You’re single and a friend calls to tell you how PERFECT this one guy is (she’s trying to set you up again). She goes on and on about him, most likely exaggerating...doesn’t it turn you off a little? I mean come on, she’s just trying too hard to make him sound good.

I don’t think God wants to be that guy.

I think God can show how awesome He is without our boasting.

But remember, if you HAVE to boast, at least boast about God.

Tomorrow we start Week 5, 'Love is Not Proud'. Boasting and Pride go well together, so we can look at this like an extension of Week 4. Yay!