DAY 176: Boasting

DAY 176

      Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic         

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Twenty-six   Sunday 6 September 2020

Boasting

Grant us, O Lord, to trust you with all our hearts: for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  The Book of Common Prayer: Prayer for the Sunday closest to 7 September

“Boast” – now here’s a fascinating word when it comes to its etymology or origin and meaning: our English word can be traced back to 14^th century similar words in several European languages meaning to brag, to be arrogant, to be puffed up, to be proud, and can be a source of anger on the part of those exposed to it. In other words, it’s not a characteristic or activity we would want to seek. But it is one in which we all engage from time to time. Pride and boasting are universal, and the inner dynamic is one that calls for redemption. 

As with so many internal dynamics in our broken humanity, the capacity for being proud of, and boasting about self, is not something we want to try to excise from our person but rather see transformed into its intended purpose. God spells that out in His Word in Jeremiah 9:23-24:

“’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.”

Paul references Jeremiah in 1 Corinthians 1:31 and 2 Corinthians 10:17 when he writes, “There-fore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’” The Psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 4:8: “In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.” In both Old and New Testaments to boast in the Lord is to lift Him up, give glory to Him, praise Him for who is in in our lives and what He has done in and for and through us. It’s OK to boast – in God!

Reflective question: In what ways might you ‘boast’ about God in your life?

Reflective Scripture: Galatians 6:14 – “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Reflective hymn:

“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” – Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God;

All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.