The Right Kind of Boasting
{This is something of the chapel devotion I gave today at a homeschool co-op to
kids from 9 to 17}
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The
Right Kind of Boasting
But he said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am
content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For
when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12.9-10)
What does it mean to boast? ... Right. To brag about our accomplishments,
to say things that sound like, “I’m better than you at this or that...I’m cool,
I scored most of the points at the game…I got the better grade than...I am more
successful than…”
So, is boasting ever really good? And it’s especially not good if it’s
meant to elevate ourselves and put someone else down.
Notice that here in 2 Corinthians Paul does a lot of boasting, and
here’s why. There were several guys showing up on the church’s door step who
were bragging about being better than Paul, more powerful, having greater
ability, able to fill churches to the max. He describes their bragging
standards this way, “they measure themselves by one another and compare
themselves with one another” (10.12). They were so full of themselves that Paul
even calls them “super-apostles” (11.5). So Paul takes them on in their own game and
brags. But listen to his bragging:
- But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us (10.13).
- If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness (11.30).
- I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it (12.1).
- Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me (12.9).
Paul boasts, for sure, but he boasts of…..weakness! And there’s the
shocker for us. Boasting in weakness is completely contrary to our normal pattern,
our sports culture, advertising, and social mindset.
What is this weakness Paul is boasting about? In chapters 11 through 12
it covers two aspects:
1st- This
weakness is in his lack of power, prowess and prosperity.
2nd-This
weakness is in his abundance of his hurt for Christ and being hunted down
for Christ.
Paul is weak in that he lacks the things that others brag about, and he
is weak in that he has an abundance of things others avoid.
The question to ask, then, is why does he boast of his weakness? Paul
has come to see that when he has been stripped of everything society thinks is
cool, awesome and satisfying, he ends up having everything because he has
Jesus! Think this point through: When we are stripped of all the stuff that our
society says makes us hip, desirable, happy and prosperous and are left with
Jesus, we have what is our greatest good, what is our deepest joy. Now that, to be honest, is
a pretty sour-tasting-hard-to-swallow medicine!
But there it is! We are left only with the Lord himself, and that’s the
kind of thing Paul voiced earlier, when he said:
“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 (10.17-18).
This is what is worth boasting in, the Lord himself; and that in our
weakness (the lack and abundance of it) his strength is made perfect.
And the
hard, cold reality is that kind of boasting requires faith. In the midst of the lack and
abundance, the questions float to the top of our consciousness: Is Jesus really
my greatest good and deepest joy? Is being in this weakness something I can
genuinely “boast the more gladly of”, because I am left with nothing but Jesus?
This is the right kind of boasting. And it requires faith.
Mike
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