Love Does Not Boast
Boasting is basically talking about ourselves. It is magnifying personal accomplishments, talents, needs, etc. Boasting is not love because boasting requires that a person focus inward instead of focusing on others. It is selfish and arrogant.
Boasting also misses out on glorifying God. When we boast about our strengths we are neglecting to admit that God gave us the strength in the first place.
Love gives other people attention, magnifying their accomplishments, talents, needs, etc.
I share an example of how I felt convicted for boasting about myself in the video below! God answered my prayers! I had plenty of opportunities to glorify the Lord and share with people how thankful I am to trust in God who cares about me… yet I was selfish, interested in telling my story and showing people how strong I was… me, me, me. Shame on me. I need to give God the glory because He helped me, and other people need to hear that God is good!
Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:31
Can you think of situation where you could have shared God’s love with someone, but got caught up in talking about yourself?
There are many reasons why we boast. We want people to like us, we desire acceptance, and we desire attention and acclaim. Some of us use boasting to impress others. Some of us use it as a tool of manipulation in marriage to be right in an argument or to get a point across. We claim knowledge or expertise in an area so that our opinions have more weight. Doing this belittles our spouse. What we need to do is remain open-minded and consider our spouse’s opinions. We need to stop looking inward.
Some of us talk about ourselves to others explaining how we do this or we do that in marriage… and our spouse does nothing to contribute. This is boasting and it will damage marriage. It corrupts our perspective of our spouse and it skews what other’s think about our spouse. Please be careful that you are not boasting to others highlighting what you do as a wife, and continue to talk negatively about what your husband lacks.
Instead of boasting, let others boast about you and focus on boasting about others. Boast about God and boast about your husband!
“Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips.” – Proverbs 27:2
Challenge:
Stop talking about yourself…instead boast about others. Boast about what God has done in your life, praise Him and thank Him! Also, boast about your husband whether in the presence of just him or to him in the presence of others. Acknowledge his accomplishments and abilities, compliment him, and thank him. When you are talking to others about marriage, boast about the good things!
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
I appreciate you so much. Thank you for revealing to me that boasting is not love. I pray that I would be aware of when I talk about myself, give me the self-control to stop and boast about you or someone else! I pray that I would truly love others and be focused more on others than myself. Help me not to worry about impressing others by talking about myself, but rather lift others up with acknowledgment, compliments, and appreciation. Help me not to use boasting as a tool in marriage to get a point across or to put my husband down. Inspire me to boast positively of my marriage and to take advantage of every opportunity to magnify your name in Jesus name I pray AMEN!
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” – 1 Corinthians 13 : 4-8
Questions to discuss in the comments:
What is love? What does love look like in your marriage?
Take a moment to boast about the Lord and/or boast about your husband!
