Boasting
August 28th, 2009In 1 Kings 20:11, the king of Israel quotes an interesting proverb: “Let not him who girds on his armor boast like him who takes it off.” Anyone can boast before a battle, but it is those who survive and return who really have something to boast about. We come across several kinds of boasters in our lives and occasionally we ourselves do the boasting. Here are some kinds of boasting we must be on guard for.
First, the boast of saying but never doing. We often have great intentions to improve our spiritual lives, but end up procrastinating and never doing what we intended. We tell ourselves: “I am busy now, but as soon as things settle down, I will begin going to church again.” We say “I will start praying every day when…” or “I will start studying my Bible after I …” or “I will be baptized as soon as…” Fill in the blank: “…when the house sells,” “…after this sports season,” “…as soon as school starts,” “…when this project is done.” Whatever the blank is filled with, it’s all just excuses. There are many problems with making these excuses. We do not know if our lives will ever settle down. We do not know if we will ever accomplish what is causing us to stumble in our service to God. In addition, we do not know if we will even have another day to live. James strongly warns us not to order and plan our lives without God (cf. James 4:13-17). Instead of merely talking about what you are going to do, take Nike’s advice and just do it. Whatever your desires and intentions to improve your spiritual life may be, incorporate them into your life now—don’t wait for some magical moment that may never come.
Second, the boast of saying that won’t happen to me. Time and time again we are warned of dangers that result from such actions as neglecting church services and Bible studies, hanging with a bad crowd, and being in a situation that could compromise our purity. We know these are dangerous and we know others have fallen away because of them, but we think it won’t happen to us. We think we are the exception; we are strong enough to stay faithful even in the midst of these temptations. Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” It’s when are strong that we become arrogant, stop watching where our feet wander and end up falling over something we never saw coming.
We often use words to replace action. We seem to feel better about ourselves if we tell others what we are going to do even if we never actually do it. We need to strive for more than just good intentions and bold words for Christ and strive for better lives. We need to stop making excuses for the parts of our lives that corrupt our spiritual walk and instead do all we can to remove every hindrance. Just as merely saying you are a Christian doesn’t make you a Christian, so merely saying you will be faithful doesn’t make you faithful.
