When we consider God’s glory and hope, we want to boast about it!
By Dean Collins
Enjoy a week full of our favorite archived devotionals about hope.
So what do you have to brag about? If you are a grandparent, we already know your answer and we don’t need to see your pictures! We have already heard how amazing, intelligent, and beautiful they are—more than once. But I did want to tell you about my grandchildren.
We are proud of our children and grandchildren, and that is generally healthy and fun. But usually when we think about people bragging, it comes from a different place. Often those who need to tell us all about their talents and abilities reveal arrogance or an inflated sense of their importance or worth. Typically, no one really enjoys being in the company of one who has a need to remind us of their importance.
Rejoice! Boast!
Is this what Paul is talking about in Romans 5? Three times in the first 11 verses of that chapter we are told to rejoice: “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (v. 2). “We rejoice in our sufferings” because they produce endurance (v. 3). And in verse 11, “We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Many translations use the word rejoice here, but the NIV uses the word boast because the Greek word is kauchaomai, which can be translated “boast,” “to take glory in,” or “to rejoice.”
Many admonitions in Scripture warn us of the dangers of pride. Proverbs 8:13 says pride and arrogance are associated with evil. As followers of Christ we are called to humility and never arrogance.
Every day! Every situation!
But we can and should brag on the Lord and his goodness. This is Paul’s point in Romans 5 where we are told to boast or rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Because of our faith in Jesus, we have access to God’s grace, and God’s grace becomes the sure foundation we stand on. The foundation of God’s grace is worthy of our rejoicing because it is enough to get us through every day and every situation, even the difficulties that come our way while we live in this fallen world. We stand and rejoice in the hope, the assurance, of God’s glory now and when Jesus returns to restore all things.
Look again at the list of blessings Paul reminds us of in the first few verses of Chapter 5:
We are made righteous ( justified) by faith (v. 1)
We have peace with God through Jesus (v. 1)
Through Jesus we have access to God by faith and grace to stand upon (v. 2)
We can rejoice in our sufferings because they produce endurance (v. 3)
And our endurance develops character, which produces hope and never leads to shame (vv. 3-5)
We are reconciled to God through the shed blood of Jesus (vv. 9-11)
So go ahead and brag on your children and grandchildren; they are blessings from God. But here’s our bigger blessing we should never shy away from boasting about: the glory of God. May God bring all of us reminders today of the blessing and rejoicing, even boasting, we can do as we share the goodness of God with others!
Your time with God’s Word
Romans 5:1-11 ESV
Photo by Thirdman at pexels.com
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