I don’t know about you, but I like to brag about myself. I find happiness in letting others know what I’ve accomplished. I want them to know just how wonderful I am.
But I’m not wonderful. I’m weak, depraved, and unnecessary. I just like appearing to be wonderful, cool, accomplished, smart, talented, strong, wise, etc.
I’d love to say, “I was the one who baked that cake on display” or “I was the author of that New York Times Best Seller” because it would make me feel good.
Everyone likes being bragged about, and (unfortunately) we like bragging about ourselves. We want everyone to know what we’ve done and how great we are.
But like I said, we aren’t great. We’re weak, unnecessary, and depraved…without Christ.
For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no human may boast before God. But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NASB)
If we can get over ourselves for 30 seconds, we can see that we are the foolish, weak, base, and despised things that God chose. Sorry to burst everyone’s ego bubble, but we aren’t as wonderful as we’d like to believe.
Even though the above passage isn’t typically used around Easter, it’s very relevant for this holiday. After understand everything that we are (i.e., foolish, despised, etc.), we can look at the end of the passage and see what Christ became for us. Because of what we are, we couldn’t be righteous, sanctified, or redeemed…without Christ. And when we see what we are and what Christ was for us, we have to rejoice. We have to boast in Him.
What did Allah or Buddha or do for their people? Nothing. They didn’t give their people redemption, sanctification, or victory. Their followers have to earn those things themselves.
Christ gives us uncountable wonderful things, including a place in His kingdom for eternity, victory over sin and death, and His perfect righteousness.
He lived a perfect life and gave us the righteousness He earned. Despite all the sins He knew we would commit and despite all the times we would disappoint Him, He still hung from the cross in agony, separated from His Father and bearing our immeasurable sins. Then He gave up His last breath and battled with death, winning the battle. And then He let us wear the champion’s crown of glory.
We serve an amazing God. And we can (and should) praise Him all day long. We can brag about our Savior. In fact, the Bible commands us to give God glory.
It’s not okay to be prideful and to get in people’s faces that we’re right and they’re wrong. (Remember? We are not right; we’re foolish. But Christ is wise.) It’s good to proclaim what Christ has done for us and what He has saved us from.
Some people don’t know about His nail-pierced hands, His crown of thorns, and the empty tomb. We have a message to share! Our God is a great God. We bear His righteousness because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Share it. Spread it. Boast about our God.
Happy Easter! 🙂
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