If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:3
Boasting is a testament to perception. We do and say things that orbit exclusively around us but that are constructed specifically to drive people’s perception of our reality. Even when they are true, they speak falsely. Because as much as what you say may be true, it is almost never the whole truth. It is a very specific subset of the truth, vetted and trimmed until it performs in precisely the required manner. You learn only what I wish you to know about me. A subtle and often not so subtle form of misdirection.
It is true that some boasting comes about specifically for my own edification but even this is a half truth inasmuch as we revel mostly not in the glory of the achievement but in the reflected glory of the achievement given back to us by the observers we have sent it out to. It’s a construction with our own fragile ego in mind. It’s the squirrel to our canine, preventing us from dwelling too long on the full scope of our life, what the bible describes as looking at ourselves with sober reflection.
And so then when we boast we are opaque.
But Love has a transparency to it. Its purpose, its desired outcome, its commitment to the whole truth. It has no hidden motives, no secret agenda. Love is its own agenda.
So church, let us put aside talking (and posting 🙂 designed to obfuscate and manipulate the worlds perception of us. Let us speak truthfully, yet kindly. Let us give our whole hearts to love’s agenda. Let’s be the people that are worth boasting about but have no need to! And as Paul puts it, if we are to boast in anything let it be the Lord!
Much love
Stephen Hickson