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Love Does Not Boast
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Proud As A Peacock? |
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As you view
picture of the peacock published
by National Geographic consider
its beauty.
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This peacock was created
with much of which to be proud.
Yet, it has no mouth from which it can
boast.
The love of God is
"others" oriented. When we put God's
love into action, we use our knowledge,
skills, and abilities to benefit others.
In the process we may become the focus
of attention. However, we are never to
take the spotlight, the page, the
microphone, the break room, the bus
seat, the elevator, or any other venue
to place ourselves in the spotlight.
Boasting
has its origin in pride. It
occurs when a person
chooses to puff himself up.
Merriam Webster defines boasting as the
act of asserting or speaking of oneself
"with excessive pride." |
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Some boasting is subtle
and harder to detect.
For example, scorning others, putting
others down, mocking others, teasing and
taunting others, or minimizing the efforts of others
make us feel bigger. However, it is
pride that causes us to assume that we
are standard by which someone else is to
be judged.
The Bible
speaks to God's displeasure in pride.
That also means that God is displeased
with the behaviors that result from a
prideful heart.
•Boasting
is not from God. (1
John 2:16)
•God
resists those who are proud. (Proverbs
3:34)
•A
prideful attitude is the precursor to a
downfall. (Proverbs
16:18)
•Overcome
the pride that causes boasting by
practicing humility
(James
3:13)
•God
gives grace to the humble.
(Proverbs
3:34 and
James 4:6)
•It
is okay to boast when your boasting is
about God's working through you.
(Jeremiah
9:23-24)
When you
have the urge to tell everyone how great
you are--fight it. When you focus the
attention of others on your successes,
they won't stop looking until they see
your failures. Don't be quick to
brag or boast.
Humble yourself before God, and His
promise is that He will lift you up.
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