Elul 20 Love does not boast, it is not proud In Jeremiah, the Lord says, “The wise man should not boast of his wisdom, the powerful should not boast of his power, the wealthy should not boast of his wealth; instead let the boaster boast about this: that he understands and knows me…” Who gave us our wisdom? Our power? Our wealth? Who should we really be boasting about/giving credit to? Everything is a gift from God, why boast as though it were not a gift? When we boast we are flattering ourselves for our own advantage. We are trying to please people to get a sense of self-worth. Our identity needs to be in God alone. NO ONE has the right to speak into your identity but the One who created you and designed you for His purposes. I recently faced a circumstance where another person rattled off several reasons they did not like me and how they thought I could improve in a condescending, critical overtone. My first response was feeling hurt. I was driving home from the encounter asking God if it was true. I decided to pull over because the tears were flowing pretty well. I began to pray and God gently pointed out that some of them were true while others were definitely not and were an issue that the other person would have to deal with. I put my hurt feelings aside in pursuit of how I could please God with these new revelations. Since love esteems others as higher than ourselves so we would want to be using our words to be building up and encouraging others rather than pridefully telling of our accomplishments. Since we know that pride comes before a fall, we want to consciously be aware of what we say and how we say it. The scriptures remind us that we will be held accountable on judgment day for all the idle words we speak. If our tongues are submitted to the Holy Spirit, it will bring life and healing to others as well as ourselves. The book of James teaches us a lot about how to master the tongue and indicates that it is very tough to control. Thinking before we speak requires self-control and a true humility before the Spirit of God. What situations are you most likely to boast about yourself? How can you give God the glory? Are there certain people that you get around that you feel the need to brag/boast in front of? Why? What is the Holy Spirit currently working on in regards to your speech? This is an area we all fall short in...Just pick one thing you want to concentrate on...and trust the Lord to orchestrate your circumstances to begin to remedy it!
Follow the season of Teshuvah during this Month of Elul with Guest blogger Denise Dee Lytle Gibbs who originally posted these blogs on her Facebook page Fall Feast Prayer Initiative.
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