Thursday Morning Meditation - Bragging Rights

Bragging Rights
Romans 4:1-5 

For those who love college basketball, we are in the midst of March Madness.  This is the NCAA Championships which overshadows all the other tournaments in the country.  There are 64 teams battling for the #1 spot of the 2011 NCAA Championship.  The winning team will not only have bragging rights for this year, they will be added to an elite group of women and men who have gone before them.  Like these men and women, we like to have something to brag about.  Some of us brag about our travels, portfolio, spouse, children, grand-children, ancestry, career, church and our pastor.

Ironically, when we brag some of us must belittle or make other people accomplishment insignificant so we can be looked favorably upon like the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-13.  The Pharisee compared himself to the tax collector which was a despised position as they were in prayer with God. In verse 11 he said, "God, I thank You that I'm not like other people - greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector."  As we see it is easy to make a comparison when we've attained a level of accomplishment in life.

It is still amazing after we've accomplished so much in life, we believe we are entitled to brag before God what we've accomplished to show we are justified in this right.  What makes us think we can go before God in prayer and brag about what we have?  

The only bragging we can do is about our work with our hands and that's all.  We always brag about us, but why haven't we bragged about God in our prayer, in our community and in our world.  We have a lot to brag about when it comes to God.  We can brag about God's love for us (John 3:16).  We can brag about God being our protector (Psalm 121:7-8).  We can brag about God's faithfulness and promises (Romans 4:13,17) and we can brag about God calling us out and setting us aside (Genesis 12:1-2).  Although we can go on and on about what God has done.  We must check ourselves to see why we feel the need to brag about ourselves all the time.

So before we start bragging on our self, let us brag about our God who supplies all our needs, who gave us the gifts and abilities to work with our hands.  There is little to be gained when our bragging must put others down in order to make ourselves look better before God.  Let us brag more about the one who created the world instead of us.

Prayer:  Dear God, humble us in your presence.  Remind us that you have the right to brag because you created not only the word but us in your image.  Our bragging is limited to our works but when we brag about you we just can't tell it all. Amen.