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Are You Ever Tempted to Boast?
Are you a movie person?
What kind of movies do you like?
Perhaps Rom Coms, Action, Adventure, Thrillers, or Sci-Fi??
It turns out that I’m one of those women who love to watch sappy, sweet, happy movies… the corny ones.
My family hates it, but I love happy endings.
Recently, everyone was away from home, and I found myself home alone with the puppy.
We got to watch what I wanted to watch.
I turned on one of those family-friendly shows which was also a murder mystery.
In this particular movie, the star of the show was trying to figure out who murdered in a small town.
She narrows it down to one very wealthy, very arrogant lady.
As she goes to the wealthy woman’s house to confront her, the wealthy woman begins to brag and brag and brag.
The wealthy lady says that the Bentley and the Rolls are in the shop, and that’s not why they’re not in the garage.
She said there’s only one servant in the house today because the rest of the staff has the day off.
The wealthy lady in the movie continues to brag about her beautiful home and her expansive gardens and her wealth.
She even boasts about the expensive China that they’re drinking their tea from.
She boasts and boasts and boasts… Are You Ever Tempted to Boast?
Funny thing… It turns out she’s broke.
And this is all false bravado for the sake of the girl who is solving the murder mystery.
Because it’s a happy movie… They arrest the wealthy woman without incident.
No one is hurt and the case is solved.
The movie ends.
The End!
After it was over, I began to think about all of the bragging and boasting that this wealthy woman was doing.
Are You Ever Tempted to Boast?
It is so easy sometimes to get into the habit of boasting a little or bragging a little.
I think all of us are tempted at times to brag and boast.
However, as we look at the scripture today in 1 Corinthians 13:4, we read,
“Love does not boast.”
The new King James Version puts it this way, “Love does not parade itself.”
In the Good Word Translation, we read, “Love does not sing its own praises.”
What is Boasting? Are You Ever Tempted to Boast?
The dictionary tells us that to boast is to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities.
To boast is “to brag, to crow, to gush, to show off, or to glorify ourselves.”
We boast because it makes us feel a little better about ourselves.
Or we’re trying to cover up for what we don’t feel good about.
But you know, I have found that the only one that enjoys boasting is the person that’s doing it.
What Does the Bible Say about Boasting? (Are You Ever Tempted to Boast?)
When you look up the Bible’s word for boasting, it means to “speak in a way to puff oneself up or to brag.”
Another of the meanings for boasting is “to praise ourselves.”
To chant loud praises of ourselves.
ICK!
Honestly, I don’t want to chant loud praises of myself.
Instead, I want to chant loud praises of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to heap loud praises on other people.
But I don’t want to be a person who is praising myself!
And why are we told specifically that LOVE does not boast?
When we boast, we in essence are putting others down and putting ourselves above them.
When we boast we lift ourselves up and push those listening down.
We fill our balloon with lots of air while deflating the balloons of others.
In essence, when we brag, we are saying:
We are better!
Or… We did more!
We have more!
Look at us!
Instead… It’s deflating, demeaning, demoralizing, and hurtful!
Today – I want to share a story with you and then give some ways we can protect ourselves from becoming braggarts and boasters.
Here’s the Story – Are You Ever Tempted to Boast?
A while ago, a Christian sister invited me to have lunch with her.
We didn’t know each other very well, but we had some things in common and could talk about things pleasantly with each other.
However, on this particular day, I came with a heavy heart over something that I was personally struggling with.
This other lady had no idea what I was going through.
And because we weren’t very well acquainted, she probably couldn’t pick up on my nonverbal cues and the expressions on my face.
During our lunch together, she began to brag.
She talked at great length about how incredible certain things were in her life.
Then, she went on and on and on having no idea that the very thing she was bragging about was killing me.
(And, just to be clear, she wasn’t just celebrating, she was exuberantly singing her own praises!)
For you see, on that day, I was struggling in an area where she was having success.
Our conversation did not lift me up.
It did not encourage me.
It only left me feeling deflated and defeated and discouraged.
Honestly, that unpleasant experience stuck with me for several days.
Why?
Real Love does not boast.
Boasting is selfish and inconsiderate and insensitive.
Now the sweet sister had no idea that she was being all of those things.
She was just excited about sharing all that was going on in her life. But she was careless.
And, as I drove home, the Lord reminded me that that’s why we don’t boast.
It’s not that we can’t celebrate and be excited about the good things in our lives, but we have to be so careful of what we speak, how we speak it, and when we speak it.
Y’all! I’m sure that I have unknowingly done the very same thing to other people before.
I’m sure, you probably have too!
And I’m not dogging on this other lady or trying to make you feel sorry for me.
But I do know that I personally felt what it was like to be on the receiving end of boasting.
And it hurt my heart.
I don’t want to do that to other people.
I bet you don’t either.
So… How do we put some measures in place that will keep us from boasting?
I want to give you three suggestions on how our love can keep us from bragging.
First – Recognize the need to praise and worship God.
If God is in His proper place, we don’t feel the need to boast.
When I spend time every morning lifting up the name of Jesus, I don’t need to lift up anybody else’s name.
Matthew 6:33 says,
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and then all these things will be added to you.”
You see, I don’t have to promote myself.
Neither do you!
Instead, when we promote Jesus, He is able to be our promoter.
You and I don’t have to push our way to the top or demand that people honor us or force people into giving us respect.
Instead, we honor the king of kings and Lord of Lords, and He takes care of the rest.
1 Cor. 1:31 says,
Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
So, to keep from boasting, we recognize the need to praise and worship God!
We lift Him up!
Second, ask God to show you when and how you boast.
Invite him to open your eyes and ears to see and hear yourself doing it.
Just say,
“Lord, when I’m going off into the area of not just sharing, but actually sort of bragging and parading and flaunting, would you wake me up to that?
Tap me on the shoulder, so I’ll stop.
Poke me in the ribs and I’ll stop!“
The Spirit is well-able to redirect us!
Ask God to make you more aware! I’m doing the same!
Third… To protect ourselves from bragging, why not brag on someone else?
It’s really hard to brag about ourselves and others at the same time.
I’ve found that when I’m promoting someone else, it protects me from promoting myself.
When I’m praising someone else, I’m less tempted to praise myself.
Of course, you and I can share your joys and answer prayers and hopes, and exciting news.
We can tell the people who love us how excited we are about the things that God is doing in our life.
But also, we need to intentionally seek to lift other people up.
When we do this, we are lifted up as well!
Philippians 2:3-5 says,
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”
Why live like this?
It’s possible that on a day when you are experiencing your greatest moments and sweetest victories – someone close to you is going through their darkest valley.
Pastor Adrian Rogers put it this way…
“A person who has compassion sees people through the eyes of Christ.
Compassion means seeing the suffering with feeling.
The problem is with so many of us, we just don’t see, we don’t look.
We’re so busy.
We pay no attention to hurting people who are all around us.
The Lord Jesus shows us, unconditional love.
He is the one who comes to us right where we are.
He is the one who’s moved with compassion.
And, He tends to our wounds and takes us where we need to go.
That’s what we need to practice.
That’s what it’s all about, loving others.
And acting like Jesus.”
Closing Thoughts – Are You Ever Tempted to Boast?
To act more like Jesus this week, let’s NOT act like the lady who was boasting in the Hallmark movie.
Let’s not act like the lady I had lunch with who was boasting without realizing how it was hurting my heart.
Instead, lets:
First – Recognize the need to praise and worship God.
Second, ask God to show us when and how we boast.
Third… To protect ourselves from bragging, why not brag on someone else?
I’m not saying any of this is easy, but God can teach us to love without boasting and relate without bragging!
Our model is Jesus!
And God is in the business every single day of making us more and more like Him!
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You can listen to the podcast version of this episode on iTunes – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/are-you-ever-tempted-to-boast/id1600978021?i=1000620873977