Love does not Boast: Part 1

The King James Version translates 1 Corinthians 13:4 as “charity vaunteth not itself.” “Vaunt” is not a word we commonly use in our modern day English, but it accurately describes what Paul is trying to convey in this scripture. Noah Webster defines “vaunt” as

“To boast; to make a vain display of one’s own worth, attainments, or decorations; to talk with vain ostentation; to brag.” Noah Webster 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language

Love does not boast or brag about one’s self. It is not puffed up with pride. It does not parade itself for others to see. Love is not focused on how great we think we are but rather on the eternal value of others. At the center of all bragging is a heart that is consumed with self. Love, however, flows from a heart that is consumed with the needs, wants, and interests of others.

The seeds of pride are sown when we begin to place greater value on what we have than the One who has given us what we have. Paul writes of those who “take pride in appearance and not in heart.” (2 Corinthians 5:12) When we focus on our outward successes rather than our inward condition, when we are more concerned about what men can see about us rather than what God sees about us, we are laying the ground work for pride to take root in our lives. God warned the Israelites about becoming satisfied with what this world has to offer.

“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 8:11-14)

What is it that satisfies your soul? Are you like the five thousand that Jesus feed with the two loves and five fishes that followed Him, not because they believed in Him, but because they were feed and satisfied? Are you satisfied merely with what the world has to offer or is there a deeper hunger with in you that can only be satisfied by Him? Speaking of the nation of Israel God recounts that “as they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore they forgot Me.” (Hosea 13:6) When we become satisfied with what we have we face the danger of forgetting God. We become proud in what we have achieved and what we have amassed but we forget that everything we have has been give to us by God.

All that we have are gifts from God. James tells us that “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” (James 1:17) Yet when we forget the giver, when we forget the one who have given us every good and perfect gift, then we will transform the good things from God into pride. “They transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them.” (Ezekiel 7:20) Right now, stop and conceder the many good things that you have, and remember the one who, in His love, has given you all these things. Instead of being prideful in what we have, let us rather boast in the giver of all things, Jesus Christ our Lord!

More to come… David Robison