Boast"To talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities."

Many times in this day and age, a common goal or theme in life is to achieve. Now having that as a goal or a mindset is not a bad thing, but using it in the wrong way can lead to consequences. Each and every person was blessed with certain abilities or certain gifts, but a lot of times we mistake those gifts to be ours, that our accomplishments are ours, that our victory is ours.. and i'm here to tell you that is a big, fat lie. 

When you decide to become a Christian, you are saying that you are deciding to die to your old self, to die to your flesh, and to fully become reliant and dependent on Jesus Christ. This means that you no longer are counting on yourself to call the shots and to gain possessions for yourself but instead that you are letting God take the reigns and that you are living to glorify Him! With following God comes blessings and greatness and glory.. but as you reach new heights and as you achieve new things, remember to ask yourself..

~WHO ARE YOU BOASTING IN?~ Are you boasting in God or are you boasting in yourself? This is a question I frequently try to ask myself and I encourage you to do the same. It is easy to obtain something great or to do something great and forget that it wasn't by ourselves that we are able to achieve these things but instead it was by God and God alone! 

2 Corinthians 4: 5-6 "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

It's time that we take a look at our life and see if we're glorifying God or if we're glorifying ourselves. Talking and bragging about ourselves and our accomplishments doesn't glorify God, it's making everyone look at us and idolize us when in reality, if it weren't for God, we wouldn't be able to accomplish the things we are! When our aim and our focus is to bring fame and glory to ourselves, God is not going to bless us. And every time we brag on ourselves or get people to look at how great WE are.. remember that by doing this, you're causing everyone around you to take their eyes off God and to place them on you..

I know for a fact that people's eyes should not be on me.. I am human and I fall and i'm not the thing people need in their lives, and neither are you! When we selfishly bring glory to ourselves while calling ourselves followers of God and Christians, people who look up to you, or people who are even just around you are going to watch that and people WILL follow you.. So do you want to be a person that points people in the direction of our Savior, the one and only thing that matters in this world and that people need in their lives? Or do you want to be a person that takes their eyes off God, and encourages people to count on their own strength so that they might fall?

You decide.

 As Christians, we're in the business of making GOD'S name famous, not our own. And if you are serious about following God then it is important that we humble ourselves before Him so that we can fully understand that we are nothing without God. It is then, and only then, that He is able work through us in order to spread His kingdom and bring about the abundance of blessings and riches in our lives that He's promised us. 

John 5:30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."

BOASTING IN GOD ALONE This life isn't ours and the gifts and abilities we've been blessed with are a blessing! God does not owe us anything, and we do not achieve these things on our own but instead we are achieving these things together, side-by-side with God, having full faith of the glory that He is going to bring fourth and the fruit that you WILL bare because you have Jesus Christ by your side! With that being said it is important that we do not boast in ourselves, or anything other than God! Our wonderful, powerful, incredible, amazing God that has given us the honor to use the gifts He has given us to achieve such great and mighty things so that we may show the world how amazing our God is, how powerful our God is!

1 Peter 2: 9-10 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the name of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who oncewere not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."

As followers of Jesus Christ, we should no longer want people to praise or marvel at us but instead at God! I know for a fact that I couldn't be anywhere close to where I am today if I we're to rely on my own strength and talent, because without God, i'm nothing. Make sure not to forget that. Make sure that as we go out into the world, that our one and only goal and our one and only purpose is to glorify God. Our abilities and even our life can be stripped away in an instant, but God is everlasting. Every time you achieve something or any time you do something great, THANK God! Because He is the reason for your success! And even as we sin and we fall short of God's glory, He still allows us to achieve the things we desire!! So remember that the next time something you do something great or something great happens in your life.. because God didn't have to give you your abilities or your favor, but He did it because He loves you. So give the glory to Him! He deserves it.