November 19, 2017
Hymn 312 - Jesus loves me! This I know
Prayer
Proverbs 27:1. Boasting, or bragging, is proudly saying good things about what you have done, or what you will do for yourself. There is a story of several cousins who were talking about what they wanted to do when they grew up. One cousin boasted about how much richer he was going to be than all the other boys, and about how many things he was going to own. Sadly, though, he was killed in a car accident not long after. We don’t know what the Lord will bring tomorrow. If we boast, it’s like claiming to know more than God.
James 4:13-16. We can make plans to do things, but we don’t know what will happen in the future. James warns us not to boast about our plans. Instead, we should say, “Lord willing, we’ll do this or that.” Sometimes you’ll see Christians use the initials “DV”. These stand for “Deo Volente”, which is Latin for “God willing”. We should pray and commit our plans to the Lord.
Proverbs 16:9. We can still make plans, but we must realize that the Lord is over everything. The weather or health complications could change our plans. Planning isn’t boasting, but bragging about our plans is wrong.
Goliath boasted that he would kill David and feed him to the birds and beasts. Often in competitions today they get the competitors to boast about what they will do to the other person. That’s what’s happening here. God had different plans, though, and David ended up killing Goliath.
King Nebuchadnezzar also boasted. He boasted about all the things that he had accomplished, and didn’t give glory to God. God punished him severely for that. There is also a parable in Luke 12:18-21 about a covetous man, who was very rich and planned to build bigger barns to store all his stuff. He boasted about what he had and what he was going to, but ended up dying that night. Usually when we boast, it’s all about us, and not about what God is doing in our lives.
Is there anything that we can boast about? Yes. Psalm 34:2 tells us that we can boast in the Lord. All that we have comes from Him! Also, in Galatians 6:14 Paul says that if he was going to boast, he would boast in the cross of Christ. These are the things to boast about, not about ourselves.
So we must realize that the Lord is over everything, and we should say, “The Lord willing, we’ll do such and such,” instead of boasting about our plans. We can, however, boast about the Lord and the Cross, and what He has done for us.
Hymn 163 - Guide us, O Thou gracious Saviour
Prayer