Paul wrote, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—Not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:6-9).
There is, within mankind, a natural tendency to brag; it stems from the evil nature of our flesh. Usually we brag about ourselves; about how much money we have, how smart we are or how much land and other things we own. When we run out of things about ourselves to brag about, we start bragging about our children, grandchildren, or parents. And when we run out of relatives to brag about we start bragging about our school, hometown, football, basketball, baseball or soccer teams. And the list goes on and on, it seems we just have to have something to brag about.
Watch the players on a high school, college or professional sports team, and it doesn’t matter what the sport is, at some point in the game some player or spectator will point their index finger into the air, insinuating that his or her team is number one. How silly, even if they are the number one team in the nation, that fact won’t last for very long. Because in a very short time some other team will come along and beat them! A good example is what happened to Oklahoma University, it was rated the number one football team in the nation, and they lost their championship game and then the Sugar Bowl game. God has a way of humbling us.
I often hear people bragging about their church or denomination. In the first place it is not “your” church. Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). Paul called the church the body of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:18, 24). Most denominations are good organizations, and God has used them for some great things, but any bragging about them takes away the glory from God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
When Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra, a man who had been crippled in his feet from birth and had never walked was listening to Paul as he spoke. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd shouting: “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them” (cf. Acts 14:8-15).
Paul and Barnabas wanted nothing to do with the glory that this crowd of people wanted to heap upon them. Paul and Barnabas were men who were seeking to bring glory to God. Paul was well versed in the Old Testament, and he knew what the Bible says about God not sharing His glory with anyone. God said to Isaiah, “I am the Lord; that is My name! I will not give My glory to another or My praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8).
When you read and hear the advertisements that business owners and managers put on TV, radio and newspapers, you will hear and read a lot of bragging. Most of them will say that they are the best or that they are rated number one. But if you have the tendency to brag about your business, or future business deals, then maybe your should read what James wrote.
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:13-16).
We should always try to do our best in whatever business or occupation that we are in, but we should never go around bragging about our capabilities. The Bible says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:1-2).
Have you ever considered how boring it would be in heaven if every person there was always trying to tell other people how much good they had done to earn the right to be in heaven? But that will not be the case, there will be no bragging in heaven. When Jesus went to the Cross, He paid the price for the redemption of anyone who would put his or her faith in Him. And when we get to heaven, there is nothing that we can brag about, because Jesus did it all for us. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).