bragging | considering the word

Pr. 27:2: “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips”

We sometimes want to brag on ourselves for a number of reasons, but man, isn’t it so much better when some random person brags on us? It really is. (Although I do occasionally tell people when I complete I’ve been putting off and tell them, point-blank, to be proud of me. 😛 )

I’d also rather brag on someone than to hear them go on and on about their own accomplishments. ha! It may surprise some of those people to hear that, but when you are doing a good job of something it usually doesn’t go unnoticed.

I was helping in a 6th-8th grade cooking class this year and there was a student that was constantly looking for ways to be helpful. Honestly, you couldn’t have stopped her if you tried. She went out of her way to be helpful; even staying longer than the other students to make sure everything was cleaned up. She also had a smile on her face and was just a delight to be around.

I praised her several weeks in a row. Then, one week, as I was drying the dishes she was washing, I asked her about her helpfulness. She told me that her New Years Resolution for 2018 was to be more helpful. Well, she was definitely nailing that one! What a lovely resolution.

I was reading Eph. 5 this morning that said that we should be imitators of God. Jesus said that He came to serve and that we should do the same. This young lady had resolved to imitate the greatest Servant I know, and I know that I’m not the only one who noticed. Her obedience to His Word will earn her a reward from the Father.

Jesus said, “So the last will be first, and the first last,” and “He who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt. 20:16, Mt. 23:11) Not only has she learned and chosen to humble herself, but she wasn’t shouting it from the rooftops for everyone to know. It was only after I praised her and asked her why she was choosing to act so differently that she confided in me that she had made that resolution.

I was more than happy to praise this helpful young lady! She had no need to brag. I guess that’s the thing with being obedient to God’s Word. When we are truly doing what it says, it works out just as it says it will. Amazing, huh!?

This 8th grader can teach us a lot today. Let’s learn from her example and start humbling ourselves the way Jesus told us to. God will reward us, whether on this side of eternity or on the next. You can count on it!

On the flip side, when we see someone doing just that, let’s make sure we say thanks!

jamie

Pr. 18:12: “Before the destruction of the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.”

I learned the physical application of this verse when I was about 10 or 11. I had gone swimming at my best friend’s house. As I was riding my bike home, I noticed some neighborhood kids playing baseball in the yard of my neighbor. Now, keep in mind that the neighborhood kids were always jealous that I got to swim in her in-ground pool, but then again, they never really wanted to be her friend any other time.

So, here I come, riding my bike in my bathing suit. It was obvious where I’d been. I wanted to rub it in that I’d gone swimming and they didn’t, so I made a big show of waving at them. While I was haughtily showing off, I neglected to see the baseball stuck in a hole in the road. Yep.

Next thing I knew, I experienced an intense jarring and flew over the handlebars of my bike. My knee was torn open and my neighbor’s dad literally had to carry me home.

That was my lesson about how being haughty leads to destruction. I still remember it quite vividly.

Learn from my mistake. 🙂

Still have the scar to prove it,

jamie