No boasting

School yard team selection means someone has to be picked first and someone will be last. The child who is picked last assumes that no one likes him and feels shame and embarrassment.

But what if he was never picked at all? What if the one making the selections said that the team was complete and left the last child standing there, totally unwanted? I cannot imagine the pain of such rejection.

Today’s devotional reading is about the team selections that God makes. In Deuteronomy 7:7-8, Moses says this to the Jews:

The Lord did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

This people group was small and insignificant as far as nations go. They had nothing of merit to offer God, but He picked them and called them His chosen people. He did not make His selection because of who they were — but because of who He is.

It is hard to live with that. I imagine the first one picked for the team on the playground. That child struts as he steps behind the team leader. His every move expresses pride in that he was picked. He might be a good athlete, or popular for other reasons, but whatever made him a first choice also causes his vanity levels to rise.

This happens to those who have no merit as well. After being chosen, the Jews eventually thought of themselves as special, even deserving to be God’s people, no matter how often God reminded them they were nothing, and even no matter how often they failed to live up to His standards.

It happens to Christians too. First of all, I know that I was not selected for God’s team because of any personal merit. The Bible says,

He (God) chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him . . .  (Ephesians 1:4)

His choice was based on His own will and purpose. It had nothing to do with me. While I am thankful that I was chosen from before the foundations of the world and thankful that I didn’t have to merit such a choice, spiritual pride still creeps in.

How easy to think that God must have seen something special in me. Otherwise, why would He pick me over some others? This is bad theology. Not only that, pride is sinful. The sting of guilt when I lift my head above anyone else tells me so, as does the clear teaching of Scripture.

I was not saved so that I could be proud of myself. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

The only pride is Jesus. Paul mentioned boasting many times. He would boast about the godliness of other Christians, and even boast of what God was doing through his ministry, but he also wrote, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).

Pride in God is good, but pride in personal merit is foolish. Even though God picked me, I need to watch out for pridefully thinking that I had anything to do with His choice. James 4:16 says it straight, “But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”