BOASTING, BRAGGING AND SELF-PRAISE
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Roem, Spog en Grootpraat”
Someone wrote to me asking if I do not want to share with my readers God's view of boasting, bragging and self-praise.
Now I want to show you how absolutely destructive and fatal it is to boast, brag and show off about what our Lord is doing in your life, without giving all the honour and glory in sincerity to the Lord.
I say in sincerity, for I must also never forget; Our Lord see into the deepest depths of my heart.
For remember as the Word also teaches us, that in the end nothing I do or achieve, I can do or achieve without our Lord.
Because I love history so much, I start by sharing a piece of history with you:
Israel was constantly disobedient to our Lord and then our Lord did what He told Israel for many years that He was going to do if they persisted in their disobedience and for that He used the kingdom of Assyria.
First, our Lord made the Assyrians from nothing to the most powerful people in the Middle East.
Then our Lord used Assyria as His instrument to call Israel to order. Then king Tiglath-pileser of Assyria carried away the tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria.
2 KINGS 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.
The rest of Israel who remained in the Promised Land also did not learn from what happened to the northern kingdom and about 12 years later our Lord again sent Assyria under King Shalmaneser to captive all Israelites from the Promised Land, except the tribe of Judah:
2KINGS 18:9-12
9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it,
10 and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they (the Israelites) did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.
But then, Israel continued to live ungodly and then our Lord again sent the Assyrians under King Sennacherib to call Israel to order:
2KINGS 18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
However, the Assyrians, by the mouths of their kings, took all the glory for themselves and even thought they were stronger than the God of Israel.
Among other things, the following was part of King Sennacherib's message to Israel:
2KINGS 18:30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
What was then the end of Assyria – this most powerful nation of its time in the Middle East?
Well, King Sennacherib was killed by his own sons and the mighty kingdom of the Assyrians was destroyed and the Assyrian kingdom and people disappeared into oblivion.
For our Lord then, in the place of the Assyrians, made another nation the strongest people in the Middle East, to carry out what He said He was going to do to Israel and it was the Babylonian kingdom that our Lord then made the strongest nation in the Middle East.
Then the Babylonians, under King Nebuchadnezzar, invaded Judah and the last of Israel – the tribe of Judah – was taken into exile from the Promised Land. King Nebuchadnezzar, as the Assyrian kings boasted in himself and bragged about what he has accomplished and you can read for yourself the consequences of his actions in DAN 4:1 onwards and pay special attention when you come to DAN 4:28 and after.
Next, I will share with you what our Lord teaches us about how He sees boasting, bragging and self-praise and how we should look at such actions:
Our Lord teaches us very clearly in the Word, that there is finally a terrible price I will pay if I brag and boast in self-admiration and forget who is actually in charge of what I brag and boast about.
First, our Lord shows us from the Word, that it is He who will use the Assyrians as an instrument. Then our Lord tells us that He is going to punish Assyria, because they boasted in themselves that out of their own power they achieved what they have achieved.
JES 10:12-15
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
13 For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
14 My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped."
Now our Lord asks about the boasting and blustering of the Assyrians who then finally disappeared somewhere in the oblivion of history:
15 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
How should you and my attitude be as children of our Lord?
Our Lord teaches us, His children:
MAT 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
How wonderful! If I, at all times, humbly give all the glory to our Lord of what is happening to me and in my achievements; my state of mind will also be sincere and steadfast.
Do you remember what you just read?
Also remember if you are reading it again now – the person speaking here and saying:
"I am gentle and humble at heart"
This person is God who became man:
MAT 11:29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (NLT)
I then conclude with the following passages from the Word that every true Christian should strive for in his/her life:
JER 9:23 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,
JER 9:24 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."
If I live according to these guidelines, I will not want to brag/boast or speak highly about myself, but our Lord will, to put it this way, be a wonderful fragrance through my life to other people:
2COR 10:17-18
17 "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Greetings,
Sakkie