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I spent a couple of hours recently
doing something I probably shouldn't have. In the quest to complete our yard project,
I needed to retrieve some large rocks from the gully bottom near our house to
extend our terrace wall. I debated the best method and decided to take on the
one affording the most exercise. That entailed CARRYING the 100-pound rocks up
a steep, sandy hillside!
Now I
would like to be able to brag that I did this with little effort. On the
contrary, I was so
exhausted after my
little weightlifting exercise that my legs wobbled, my arm was
scratched, and I felt
as though I had run a marathon. So much for boasting!
Most of us
could come up with some feat to boast about. But none of us can
boast before God of
anything. In fact, that is one of the reasons
God made salvation free to us.
Paul wrote, "For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so
that no one may boast" (Ephesians
2:8-9). Put another way, you can't lift enough rocks far enough to ever
brag before God and you can't do enough good things to win salvation. Eternal
life is a gift prepaid by Jesus Christ. We receive this gift by faith because
of God's grace!
All Scripture references are from the New American Standard
Version unless otherwise noted.
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Boasting 
