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Love Does Not Boast


Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (I Corinthians 13:4-8a)
But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same. (Matthew 26:35)
 I know people like Peter. I’m sure I’ve been like Peter. “If (name your event), I will (or will not) (name the action.)”
“If God really revealed Himself to me, I would never doubt.”
“If given the choice between death and rejecting God, I would choose death.”
“If the government comes after (guns, illegal aliens, name your governmental victim) I will defend them to the death.”
“God, forgive me this once and I will never fail You again!”
Somewhere along the line, I grew afraid to make such claims but reversing the direction doesn’t seem to bother me as much. I am confident of failure, not because I’m exceptionally weak, but because all humans are weak and I don’t think I’m exceptionally strong. It’s easy to imagine failure, but hard to imagine success. But bragging about failure (especially to God) is telling God that He isn't able to change me for the better. It's telling God that He's a failure.
          I read something recently about what our society has been teaching our kids. They’ve been told that they are special, that anything is possible and they can have anything they want just because they want it. In other words, they have been taught that they are better than their elders. They have been convinced that they are loving, tolerant, caring, and inclusive, but the moment they start claiming these virtues, they are demonstrating the opposite. As Christians, we need to make sure we’re not doing the same.

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