I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me: let us exalt his name together.

(Ps 34.1-3)

Jesus told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ’Oh God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, crooks, adulterers, or heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’

Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

(Lk 18.9-14, the Message)

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift…. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.

(Rom 3.22,23,24&27)

Everything that we have – right living and right thinking, a clean slate and a fresh start – comes from God by way of Jesus Christ, that’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”

(1 Cor 1.31, the Message)

Truly, God’s word penetrates deeply and illumines the realities of our private thoughts, cherished pet sins, and ungodly desires. We can be putting on a great act for those around us, but God is never fooled by that, and some of Jesus’ strongest words of condemnation were for the hypocrites, whose religiosity masked hearts of stone, adamantly resistant to his message of the kingdom of God.

I was brought up short recently during preparation for our study in Romans, by that simple assertion that boasting – in race, in covenant promises, in possession of the Law – all so dear to the Jewish people – is totally excluded by the reality of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. I am not a Jew, but a Christian, who has known so many blessings and privileges through her life, protected from so many of life’s trials. On one level, I know that I have nothing to boast about – as a sinner I am utterly dependent on grace.. but I know my heart and my fears and insecurities, and I know the conversations that happen in my head. I know that inner voice of self-congratulation and the subtle judging of other people which goes on, it sounds very like the pharisee in Jesus’ story.

Am I the only person who goes into a social gathering protecting herself from hurt and rejection by an inner assertion of her own moral worth and innate value? How easy it is to make assumptions about those around us, and silently, with quiet inner relief, to add up the sums and decide we’re ok, because of something, anything in others that doesn’t quite meet our approval – morals, habits, characteristics. How deadly is this temptation to continually compare myself against others in a critical way, looking for things that will enable me to feel a bit better about myself! Human pride is so devious, continually changing ground and colour, hiding in plain sight because we simply don’t recognise its latest disguise! It is my pride which drives me down this horrible, mean path of inner judgement and self-elevation; it is pride which wants to think well of myself and which writhes under the weight of gospel truth – that truth which demonstrates that I have simply no reason whatsoever to be pleased with who I am… who I am apart from Christ that is!

I want to learn to live differently, now that I have been shown this fact about myself and see it for what it is – sin. I want to be changed by the inner working of Jesus’ Spirit, to abhor such behaviour, and instead to embrace his love for my fellow sinners. And I think one of the most powerful means to changing is to embrace the things I can boast about more effectively! I can and must exalt my Saviour, praising the love with which He loved and loves us, praising his saving power and complete work on our behalf; praising his perfections which are ours by faith in him. He is altogether worthy of praise and adoration, and absolutely worth boasting about! Not in some possessive way, but in the best kind of boasting – we have this gift, this good news which is for everyone who will believe, and so we shout about it in order to invite those who do not yet know him to come and find out.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for your mercy in showing me the truth about the way pride still pollutes my behaviour and my thinking.

Thank you for the forgiveness which Jesus has won for this sin, and for the power of your Spirit within to transform and purify me, so that I become victorious over it.

Go on driving out false human pride, out of every place that it hides, and fill me instead with that humble thankfulness which sees my need, and then rejoices in my Saviour’s complete provision. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.