Friday, December 09, 2016

Love Does Not Boast; God Does Not Boast

Love does not boast. The picture Scripture attempts to paint is a person, who seek to draw attention to himself by underlining his accomplishments and assets. Perhaps with considerate exaggeration.

Love does not need to be the center of attention. Love focuses outward, toward others.

Boast does speaking about one’s accomplishments equal boasting? Does Michael Phelps boast when he tells someone: “I won multiple Olympic God medals in swimming at the Olympics.” ?

Speaking the truth about accomplishments does not always constitute boasting. Love does not boast, therefore, God does not boast. But he is the Creator, the Redeemer. In him, all things hold together. He is the center.

People are designed to find meaning, worth, value and significance within a love relationship with God.

God is not jealous. But he says to us: “I made you for a relationship with me. You are seeking meaning and significance with all these other things, that will only leave you empty. You will only find heart fulfillment with me alone.”

God is not boastful. But he says: “I am the all-Knowing. I am the All-Powerful. I am the Ever Present. It is in me that you will find meaning and significance. It is in me that you will find rest, and real love.”

Because he is the Creator, the Designer, and the Center of All, there are difference in how he practices love, and how we practice love. Like some people, God can proclaim great and marvelous accomplishments. And he is simply proclaiming facts.

It is the nature of the upside down spiritual kingdom, that if we seek to put ourselves in the center, we pursue selfishness, and avoid love. If God puts himself in the center, he pursues love, making himself available, and is adopting a servant’s mind-set.

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