“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. - 2 Corinthians 10:17-18
It is all too often that we hear the bluster of one who is intent upon persuading both himself and us of his devotion to his faith. How ‘good’ a person he or she is. How many confessions? How often he worships? How often he reads his Bible? His position in the church as Bible school teacher. It often sounds as though he is trying to convince the world of his sanctity. It seems to be all about what he or she has done. It’s all about what they perceive to be their ‘Christian ranking’. What they and we often forget is that we have a Christian duty to act in a Christian manner; it is part and parcel of our having been justified. “For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” - 1 Corinthians 9:16. We aren’t Christians because we do these things. We do these things because we are Christians! It’s part of our sanctification process. Like a school student, we are not to be exalted because we passed our tests; it is our duty as students to pass our tests.
The Apostle, James put his finger upon the critical issue: the truly Godly do not boast in their Christian behavior. Only the legalists among us will perpetrate such a sinful attitude. All our boasting in ourselves amounts to nothing more than sin. “As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” - James 4:16.
How insincere would we be if we were given something of inestimable value by our parents and we bragged to our friends how we obtained it for ourselves? What an outright lie it would be to tell others how hard we worked for what we have received by grace alone? How dare we brag about a possession as though we had earned it when, in fact, we did no such thing?
Perhaps we forget at times that we are saved by God’s grace because while we were still living in our sin, He chose us. Understanding this, our salvation comes to us as a gift of our faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9.
The only reason we could boast about the things we have done would be if our salvation was earned by our good works. We cannot earn them. Nor can our carnal works add anything to the justification we receive through the death of Christ Jesus. It is through Christ and Christ alone that we are saved from eternity in hell. To say otherwise cheapens Jesus’ death on the cross. To say otherwise suggests that in some way we contribute to our salvation, as though Christ’s death was insufficient
We are saved only by the goodness of God through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. We can only boast of this and never of ourselves. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” - Titus 3:4-6.
As we live our lives in Christ let us always remember the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made to save us from our sinful ways and respond in obedience to Him and the word of God. That is the Good News of the Gospel: Jesus did it all for us so that we can not boast in ourselves. We could never earn our place in Paradise. Jesus earned it for us so let us boast in Him and in Him alone.
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