Love does not Boast
As we study the definition of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 so that we can fulfill God’s command to love one another in John 13:34, we have found that love is patient, love is kind, does not envy. Today we learn that love also does not boast. In the King James version, It says that love “vaunteth not itself”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines boasting this way: to praise oneself extravagantly in speech : Speak of oneself with excessive pride.
It seems that the main idea behind boasting is to bring attention to oneself and is fueled by pride.This can be a difficult thing to diagnose in our own lives. We want people to have a good opinion of us. We want to be salt and light. We want to do meaningful things to help others and to encourage others to do meaningful things. Those are good things and good motives, but when they become a source of pride to lift ourselves up in the sight of other people, then we need to work on that. We need to keep checking our motives for the things we say. If we find that our motives might be questionable, then the easy thing to do is to be quiet. Admittedly, this might be more difficult if you are a talkative person like myself.
Am I being boastful?
We need to ask ourselves if our actions and our words bring attention to and point people to ourselves or God. Why is love not boastful? When we do something kind for a neighbor and we boast about it, we have not really done it for our neighbor’s benefit but for our own. Boastfulness devalues the act and often demeans the recipient. If we are telling others how patient we are with a family member or co-worker, we may have just made that person look bad to make ourselves look good. We need to ask ourselves why we are sharing and to whom is it bringing attention.
As I look at boasting, I am going to look up what the Bible has to say about boasting. Here is a really helpful link about boasting that has many scripture passages to scour through and ingest. I am going to ask God to help me spot areas in my life that I need to work on, and for His help to control my tongue. I am going to be extra sensitive to where credit and attention is being focused when I try to show love to other people.