Hello folks! Today we are going to study the “Boasting Tongue.” Now, I know for a fact, I am guilty of this..any of you? Maybe you don’t think so now, but possibly by the end of the study, you will recognize some traits you have in common.
Boasting and PRIDE go hand in hand. PRIDE is a dangerous emotion. Pride is taking credit for something God allowed you to achieve, and you taking the glory for yourself, and forgetting to honor God with it. OOPS!
Actually, the Lord is very serious about pride and boasting.
A wise person chooses humility over pride. Boasting and pride and their downfall has been acknowledged throughout the Bible. Here are a few passages to remind ourselves of the sin of a boasting prideful heart:
Proverbs 8 v 13: “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”
Hosea 5 v 5: “And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.”
Mark 7 v 22: ( Jesus explaining a parable concerning the things that come out of a man which can defile him) “Theft’s covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:”
I Timothy 3 v 6: ” Not a novice, lest lifted up with pride he fall into condemnation of the devil.”
I John 2 v 16: ” For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
It is important to recognize that whatever talent you have, or skills you possess, you were given to them by God, and are to be used to glorify Him. Don’t be a person “Of this world.” taking pride in your possessions, instead of giving all the glory to the LORD. In the Bible God has dealt harshly with those who were prideful, and boasted about their accomplishments as if they achieved them on their own.
(The following is an exert from the book)*******
“Have you forgotten that everything you have came from God? King Nebuchadnezzar did. One day, as he was strolling on the roof of his palace, he had a conversation with himself that would change the rest of his life.
As he looked out across the city, he said, “just look at this great city Babylon! I, by my own mighty power, have built this beautiful city as my royal residence and as an expression of my royal splendor”(Daniel 4:30 NLT).”******
Now, as a typical person, I would think that these words were just the king thinking out loud, and were harmless. Hmmmmmmm…remember our enemy..PRIDE??? The bible tells us that while those words were still in the kings mouth…
“..there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.”
What happens next is in the true spirit of our jealous God, our God who had previously sent this scenario to the King in dreams:
God proclaimed that the kingdom was was no longer his, he would be driven from all men, made to live with the beasts of the field, eat grass from the earth as the oxen did, and seven times (seven YEARS), he would be wet with the dew that fell. During the seven years, his body wet with dew, his hair would grow like eagle’s feathers, and his nails like bird’s claws. The kings mind was struck by God, and he no longer had the mind of a sound man. Nebuchadnezzar had to learn and know and recognize that the MOST HIGH (GOD) rules the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whomever He will.
At the end of the seven years, Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes to heaven, his mind restored to the right use, and he confessed his iniquities and gave ALL GLORY to GOD. God was pleased, and returned the King not only to his former status, but gave him still more greatness than before.
So….it would behoove us all to remember WHO gave us all that we possess. God did. We must be conscious of EVERY thought word and deed that even looks like PRIDE. On our own, we can do NOTHING. WITH the Lord, we can do ANYTHING. Be aware of Humility and PRIDE. Remind yourself, and teach your children, that every dollar, every piece of clothing, every skill/talent, all knowledge..everything is a GIFT from God. If someone points out your good fortune, be quick to glorify the one who honored you with it, GOD. Memorize the following verse, so it will be always on your mind:
“For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it.” I Cor 4 v 7 (NAS)
Today’s Affirmation: “By the grace of God, I am who I am” (I Cor 15 v 10)
Tapestry ~ Treasures 