Boasting!

We all like to boast about something! Maybe it is about a bargain we found in the shops or a big fish we caught. Boasting comes naturally to us.

Paul the Apostle liked to boast as well. He had plenty to be proud of but, he tells us, everything paled into insignificance compared with the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and what was represented by that. For him the cross of Jesus had huge significance even if people thought he was crazy boasting in such a thing that most people looked on with disgust.

For Paul, and this must be true of us too if we are Christians, the cross represented God's way of salvation for sinners. This did seem foolishness to some but Paul knew that, as a sinner himself, he could not save himself or find pardon and forgiveness unless God forgave him. His sin, and our sin, must be dealt with. And it was — at the cross, where Jesus took the penalty for the sin of all who come to trust in him. Paul found this to be true and he cried in relief "(Jesus) loved me and gave himself for me" Galatians 2: 20. That was why he boasted in the cross. Can we join him in this?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, may it be far from me to boast except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.