This is what the Lord says:
'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
That he understands and knows me,
That I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord.
Pride.
It stinks.
And quite honestly, this has been a theme, all throughout life, but specifically these last few days. It just comes in and starts raging like an uncontrollable monster. I really didn't want to blog about this. I was trying to find something else to write about, but this is the verse God put on my heart this morning.
Yesterday I was praying that God would just humble me. Yes, I prayed that. But not without hesitation and fear of how he would do that.
Last night we played in a pre-season flag football tournament. I'm sure you can see where this is going. I LOVE my flag football. If you've spent any time with me in your life you know that. And I won't go into detail but the game didn't exactly go so smoothly. We lost. 14 to 0, or something.
At one point about half way through the game, right after a play, I'm walking back to the huddle and I hear that oh so (NOT) still whisper, "you asked for some humility." Awesome.
This verse this morning spoke wonders to my prideful heart. Its not like this is the first time I've heard this verse. My favorite Adventures In Odyssey episode had this verse at the end. It has always really confused me about what it meant to "boast in the Lord". Isn't it just as prideful to walk around saying, "look at me, I know God so well!!"?
No, thats not necessarily the point.
Ultimately, only God and our knowledge of and love for him are worthwhile.
(Thank you NIV study Bible)
It doesn't mean walk around boasting in how much I know my precious Savior, but that knowing Him should ultimately be on the forefront of my mind. Not how good I play flag football. Not how I look. Not how disciplined I am. But Jesus. He is what truly matters.
It feels like such a simple truth.
I guess its not that simple if its so hard to do.
Lord, give me grace to focus on YOU today. Not on myself and all of my junk.
