{"id":2491,"date":"2020-09-10T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=2491"},"modified":"2020-09-01T07:38:43","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T12:38:43","slug":"what-should-you-boast-about-in-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/09\/10\/what-should-you-boast-about-in-life\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT SHOULD YOU BOAST ABOUT IN LIFE?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cIf I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.\u201d (2 Corinthians 11:30 NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boast about your weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we boast about our weaknesses, God gets the glory.  Just as I was beginning to write this morning, one of my weaknesses was exposed.  A gift I gave a young friend was \u201creturned.\u201d  My feelings were hurt.  Grace is not my go-to response.  My personality is more truth than grace.  In handling the situation, I wrote these words in my prayer journal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLord, help me to be gracious.  Without You, I have none.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God gave me grace to balance the truth in my response.  My weakness is grace; God\u2019s isn\u2019t.  When we boast about our weaknesses, God gets the glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our weakness is God\u2019s glory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voicing weaknesses is not easy.  We all like to talk about the things we do well.  No one wants to talk about the things we don\u2019t do well.  One of the advantages of having a few years under my belt is that I can look back and see my weaknesses when my emotions led my decisions instead of logic.  Or truth was heavy-handed, and grace was light.  In all of those situations, God was my strength.  In Him, I boast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul is the one boasting in today\u2019s Scripture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em><\/strong>Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,\u201d (<\/em>2 Corinthians 11:25-25 NIV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s strength was the Lord in all he faced.  Without God\u2019s presence in his life, he wouldn\u2019t have survived his journey.  And he\u2019s still going.  He\u2019s always preaching, sharing the gospel with anyone who will listen.  His weaknesses are what get the attention of his audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s face it; no one likes to listen to a braggart.  When someone is touting how great they are, the conversation gets old quick.  I avoid people who are always bragging about how great they are.  First off, no one is perfect.  Secondly, the fact they feel the need to pump themselves up tells me they are hiding insecurities inside.  If they divert your attention to what they are doing right, you won\u2019t notice what they are doing wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God changes the playing field.  He embraces us in our imperfections, and through them, He shines His light.  When people see the change in us, they see God.  They see His presence in our lives that leads us, guides us, and helps us make better decisions.  Because He loves us unconditionally, we can love our weaknesses as well as our strengths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our weakness, God is strong.  Through Him, the impossible becomes possible.  Without Him, we are weak.  With Him, we are conquerors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What weakness can you boast about today?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading: <\/strong>Isaiah 6-7 NIV<\/a>, 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 54 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 23:1-3 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.\u201d (2 Corinthians 11:30 NIV)\u00a0 Boast about your weaknesses. When we boast about our weaknesses, God gets the glory.  Just as I was beginning to write this morning, one of my weaknesses was exposed.  A gift I gave a young friend was… Continue reading WHAT SHOULD YOU BOAST ABOUT IN LIFE?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}