Bragging

Scripture:
23 This is what the Lord says: "The wise must not brag about their wisdom. The strong must not brag about their strength. The rich must not brag about their money. 24 But if people want to brag, let them brag that they understand and know me. Let them brag that I am the Lord, and that I am kind and fair, and that I do things that are right on earth. This kind of bragging pleases me," says the Lord. ( Jeremiah 9:23-24 NCV )

Observation:
This is a pretty much all-inclusive statement from the Lord on bragging. God does not want us to brag on ourselves for any reason. Nothing we can do is possible without God or His intervention somewhere in our lives. But we can brag about God all we want. And we should brag on God because that makes Him happy. And anyone should know that having God happy with you is always a very good thing.

Of course, to do this we have to toss our pride in the trash and forget about it. That is almost an impossibility for most of us, especially men. We are driven by our pride. Without it we feel that we are nothing. The problem is that we have learned from the world the wrong things to be proud about. How much money we have, or how strong, good looking, smart, loved... the list goes on and on with the wrong things to brag about. Lets re-program ourselves to be proud of worthy things. Things like, My God can never fail. God loves me. I am a child of the most high God. Bragging on these things will not only please God, but help to restore the balance in our spirit and correct our pride.

Application:
A reason we don't like to brag on others is because it pulls the spotlight off of us and places it on someone else or God. We are creatures of pride and this is pretty much unacceptable to the vast majority of us. However, I have found that by placing the honor and glory directly on God, I in turn have received more praise from others than I ever did before. By bragging on God and what He does in my life, I am blessed with people telling me how great and wonderfull I am. This makes me want to put even that praise on God. By giving it to Him in the first place, it became magnified and I received that much more. This is another aspect of giving unto the Lord our tithes and offerings and receiving back 30 60 100 fold.

Prayer:
Father, I have given what is Yours back to You and You have allowed so much more of it to fall into my life! Please Lord, let me apply this principle not just in giving You the glory and honor, but in all my tithes and offerings, no matter what form they take. Praise You father and praise Your holy name, Jesus! AMEN!!