Day 164: Jeremiah 9
Jeremiah 9:23-24
This is what the Lord says: "Don't let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord have spoken!"
When I was growing up, I was taught not to boast. We were instructed not to boast about our gifts, our talents, our accomplishments, and our strengths. We were to be humble about what the Lord had given us.
Over the years, though, we were also introduced to the idea of spiritual gifts--attributes or talents we had that were given to us by God. A few weeks ago, we had an event for women at our church. We get together monthly to spend time together, and the woman who planned it for this month planned hers around this idea of gifts. What were our talents? What were our gifts? We even went around the table and shared what we thought our gifts were. Some women, perhaps surprisingly, responded that they had no gifts. Many others claimed that they didn't know what their gifts were. A small few were able to tell their gifts, but even they looked bashful and embarrased about saying it out loud--out of fear of boasting or seeming prideful.
This response about spiritual gifts is probably very common in church circles. We don't want to boast. We don't want people to view us as bragging or having too much confidence in ourselves. However, it is a worthwhile endeavor to figure out what gifts we have so that we can use them for the Lord, and when we do figure out what our gifts are, we can boast about knowing God. We can brag to our friends and loved ones about God's goodness, glory, sacrifice, and love. Then, we can delight in God and the gifts he has given us. God is holy, and he made us. And because he made us and loves us, we can boast about who we are because we know him and are loved by him.
Praise the Lord.
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