1 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)
For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
If the above verse is not a perfect call to humility, I don’t know what is. Why boast? The proud person boasts as if he somehow brought about his own good. He boasts as if his own strengths and abilities are to be praised.
How things change when we take a step back and remember God and his grace. All that we have, every good thing, is a gift from God. We cannot boast. We did nothing to make our good. Even if we have worked hard and fought long for where we are in life, God is still the giver of all good things. God is still the one who made us, who shaped us, who gifted us, who opened doors of opportunity for us, who protected us from evils we could never have seen, who determined our times and places, who gave us everything. We have no place to boast, because God is the ultimate source of all the good that we have and all the good that we are.
Perhaps it would be good to take a moment today to thank God for all the good things you have. Perhaps today would be a good day to remember that nothing good in your life has come apart from God’s grace. Perhaps today is the time to remember that all your strengths, all your learning, and all your accomplishments are gifts from God. Ephesians 2:8 reminds us that even our faith is a gift from God. Let this humble you toward gratitude for the glory of the God who graciously gives all good gifts.
Pastor Travis Peterson 