A Daily Devotional – James, the Epistle – Personal Meditation
Comment: Boasting is evil; those three words
ought to be bitter to my taste since I know that one of dents of walking by
faith is a boastful countenance. I enjoy stories and events of life’s
experiences; whether mine or someone else. In the mix of sharing life’s experiences
boasting is present, but hopefully, not intended. Let me explain that in my
mind it is simply a verbal expression of walking by faith in the One True God
whose name is Messiah if you are an Israelite, or the Christ if you are a
Gentile. The Holy Spirit speaks through the writing of Solomon in Proverbs
10:19 – In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his
lips is wise.
Devotional: Boasting
can be an intentional lie; as in, part truth and part lie. The boastful heart
is willing to mix the unknown with the known; that is, they are willing bend
the truth with lies that lift up (but destroy) their character above the truth;
so how evil is this? “For you have said
in our heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, on the farthest sides
of the north; I will ascent above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the
Most High.” Isaiah 14:13-14.
If this is not enough to settle the point, we should
look at a New Testament event of a husband and wife encounter with the Holy
Spirit. “But a certain man named Ananias,
with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the proceeds…”
for the sake of time, please read Acts 5:1-11. God is not pleased with mixing
the truth with the lie and I am sure that James speaks effectively in James 4:13-17.
Come now, you who say, "Today or
tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell,
and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For
what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then
vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live
and do this or that." But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting
is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it
is sin.
No comments:
Post a Comment