Boast In The Lord!
“The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’" (1 Corinthians 1:25-31)
As we tell people about what great things God has done for us, we need to remember to “boast in the Lord.” After all, the good things that we have in our lives, especially our relationship with Him, is through His doing (see 1 Corinthians 1:30).
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is about the woman at the well. You can find her story in the gospel of John, chapter four. Jesus was kind to this Samaritan woman (whom Jews had no dealings with). He asked her for a drink of water, and carried on a conversation with her, telling her about the living water which He could give her so she would never thirst again. It was obvious that she had made mistakes in her life, and was still struggling. Jesus knew it, and everyone in the town knew it. She must have had some background in religion, because she said that she knew the Messiah would come (see John 4:25). When Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He" (John 1:26), something happened inside of her! “The woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; could this be the Messiah?’ They went out of the city, and were coming to Jesus...From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all the things that I have done.’ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.’” (John 4:28-30, 39-42)
What makes this story so wonderful to me is that this woman didn’t let anything stifle her witness for Christ. She could have said, “This town thinks bad of me. I need to clean up my act. I’m not the one to be telling somebody about God. This is all new for me...I don’t know enough to explain these things to someone else.” She could have been silenced by the guilt of her sin, and she could have allowed feelings of inadequacy to keep her from telling others about Christ, but she didn’t. Her message was simple, but true. “Come see a man who told me all the things that I have done. (John 4:29)”
Like that woman, after we’ve met Christ, we are supposed to tell others about Him. You may say, “Well, I was a sinful person. Who’s going to listen to me about coming to know God, and trying to live right?” Well, we’re not boasting about our own goodness and trying to live right so other people will see how noble we are. We’re boasting about the Lord, and telling folks how He saves sinners. We’re now trying to please Him because we’ve come to love Him since we’ve seen how much He loves us! You may say, “I don’t know enough about the Bible, or what to say to someone.” Do like that woman at the well...Just tell somebody what you do know. Tell someone what God did for you. He will give you the words to say. I don’t know how, but He does! Like the people in that woman’s town, others can come to see God through your testimony. But they will come to believe and know Him for themselves through the words He speaks to their hearts.
So I want to encourage you...Don’t be silent any longer! Boast in the Lord! In closing, I want to leave you with these passages from 2 Corinthians.
“Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant...” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, New International Version)
“For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, Who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:5-7, NIV)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
-Eryn Eubanks (December 2008)