Godly Bragging

"Thus says the LORD, 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man boast in his might,
Let not the rich man boast in his riches,
But let him who boasts boast in this,
That he understands and knows me,
That I am the LORD who practices steadfast love,
Justice and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight, declares the LORD'"

(Jeremiah 9:23-24)

We all have stories that we like to tell. Places we've been. People we've seen. Skills we've accomplished. Things we've learned.

Sometimes those stories get more embellished as they get repeated. Though it's usually with good intention, it boils down to bragging, which easily turns to lying.

The Lord calls us to brag about knowing and understanding Him, not about ourselves.

Okay, so we've known that we need to tell the truth. We need to be humble.

But have we thought about the flipside?

Rather than talking about how great we are, we should be talking about how great God is.

To be able to talk about how great God is requires that we know how great He is.

When we begin to understand God, we realize that there is so much more about Him that we don't understand.

Which results in humility, recognizing how great He is and how little we are.

And it leads to a greater desire to know God.

If you want to be able to talk about God, you have to know about Him. If you want to brag about Him, talk about the amazing things that He has done and His greatness, you have to constantly be learning about Him.

The more we know, the more we can brag.