May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14.
"May I never boast..."? May I NEVER boast, except in the cross of OUR LORD... What does it mean, not to boast except in the Cross? Am I not allowed to be happy about something that I have done right? well, the technical definition of "boasting" is "To glorify oneself in speech; talk in a self-admiring way." or "The act or an instance of bragging." So, basically, it means to talk about how wonderful you are.
Example? I am the BEST blog writer in the world... or I'm the nicest person in the universe, because I help people.
Now, am I helping people because I want attention, or am I doing it because I feel called to? Thats the difference between boasting and feeling good about something you did. I can help someone and not have to boast about it to make myself feel better.
The bible talks about priests who would stand in the street and pray their prayers aloud so that everyone could here them. Okay, that's boasting. In fact, the bible says that Jesus didn't want anyone to know about his good deeds. For example, HE raised a little girl from the dead (Luke 8:40-56) and HE tells the little girl's parents to keep it quiet that he had raised her. That isn't boasting. Boasting would've been, "Oh by the way, make sure you tell everyone how wonderful I am because I totally raised your kid from the dead."
Paul said, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," So, I may boast in the good works of my Lord, my Saviour, but may I never boast in myself. For Self is weak and God is perfection. As weakness, I never do anything good of my own will, it is by the perfect will of the ONE who knit me in my mother's womb that I do anything that may be perceived as good.
May I only boast in what my Lord has done.
