“Let another praise you and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” Proverbs 27:2
Pride is the preeminent sin. Lack of humility marks the manner of life and general attitude of the sinner because he/she believes that they don’t need God. In a more circumspect time, when biblical values were held in higher esteem in America, children were taught that showboating was not only unsportsmanlike but dangerous. Sadly, those days are gone.
Today, raucous celebrations break out in sports over the slightest achievement. Watch an NBA game and see how players react to hitting a three pointer. Watch the smug self-satisfaction and self-congratulatory preening. Does it matter that it’s only the first quarter? In the NFL, if a cornerback breaks up a pass he often explodes in celebration over his apparently never done before feat. You’d think he just won the Super Bowl single-handedly. This culture of “look at me” has infiltrated even the national pastime, baseball. A player who didn’t run out of the batter’s box full speed when he put the ball in play was unheard of not too long ago. Today, however, player after player stands and watches a home run ball instead of humbly running the bases. Several times, though, they’ve been wrong and the ball didn’t clear the fences but stayed in the park. So, what should have been a double, maybe even a triple, was only a single. Sometimes they’ve even been thrown out trying to reach 2nd base on a hit that would otherwise been a sure double.
In years past this behavior would have gotten a player pulled from the game. Now it’s part of the culture.
With this said, let’s look for a moment at the problem under the surface. Why is it bad to showboat? What’s the big deal, after all?
Well, first, and most importantly, the Lord tells us to live and walk humbly before Him. Let’s not forget for a single moment that any performance in any field, whether on a ball field or in an office, is watched by God. He is the audience that sees all things. That alone should infuse us with both joy in the Lord and humility before Him. A person who showboats over an achievement, or brags about their accomplishments and skill, is not giving praise to God but himself. Stealing God’s glory is a serious offense. The question to ask about one’s work, skill and achievement is who gets the glory. Do we seek glory for ourselves or for God?
Second, the commandment to think more of others than ourselves, not only to love others, means that we never want to embarrass anyone. A showboater, one given to excessive celebration, and a boaster, have this sin in common: they mock and demean their opposition. They do this before God.
Third, vanity is self-destructive. Vanity focuses on itself so much that we end up seeing other people only as a means to an end. Vanity and pride are the opposite of Paul’s great love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. Vanity is self-seeking, impatient, insists on its own way, is boastful and arrogant, and keeps a record of wrongs. Love is the opposite of all this. Love is patient and kind. Love bears all things and isn’t irritable or resentful. How often we see in modern sports an athlete who refuses to play because he says he’s not making enough money. Or his team suddenly stinks. Twice in the last year two supremely talented NBA players have demanded trades because they didn’t like their team anymore. We can only imagine if the team had refused to pay them as much when they weren’t playing well. Ah, but it doesn’t dawn on us, when we’re engulfed in pride, that not honoring our word is worse than playing for a bad team. It doesn’t dawn on us how demeaning and disrespectful it is to our teammates when we demand our own way.
Players will say, “winning a title is the goal.” No. No, it’s not. The goal is to play and live for the glory of God. The point about vanity is that it replaces God with self and one’s goal is their own glory. This is why such boasting and pride are so dangerous. They lead to destruction.
This isn’t to pick on athletes only. Vanity is the American way now. People are taught to boast about their accomplishments on their resumes. We’re taught to “believe in ourselves” rather than in God.
The heart of the issue is always this: humble yourself and He will exalt you. A life that’s set on self is an empty life. But one set toward God and His righteousness, using our talents to the utmost for Him and His glory, in the service of those He sends us, is the path to righteous living. Do you have a talent? Can that talent serve others. Then develop it with all your might so that others might praise God for you. Do your absolute best and don’t slide into mediocrity as if that’s an antidote to pride. No! Excellence in our endeavors praises God and lovingly serves our neighbor.
And this brings us to the final reason that boasting is evil. It’s God that has given us the talents in the first place. We have the distinct privilege of working on them in faith. Being better than others isn’t the goal. Doing our best in the Lord is the thing. To miss this critical distinction is to make the mistake of thinking that Lebron James, by virtue of God-given talent, is a better man than someone who wasn’t nearly as gifted, couldn’t play the game past high school and is now a so-called average Joe. God is the Judge of men, not our talents in some area or another. Boasting is evil because it reinforces secular humanism; it elevates man over God.
Those who are talented, whether that talent is physical or intellectual, must always be on guard against pride. They must not see their gifts as superiority over others. Instead, they should see their debt, in the Lord, to others, just as Christ came to serve and not be served. The “strong” have an obligation in the Lord to build up the less gifted (Romans 15:1) to the honor of God.
Finally, we do well to remember that all these talents and gifts will pass away. Age will take them. Death will swallow them. And then we will stand before the Almighty Judge and give an account of ourselves. “What did you do with the talents I gave you?” Can you see this moment in your mind? It’s coming. Assuredly, just as night follows the day, it’s coming. “What was the motive in your heart?” There will be no secrets in this judgment. No one will be able to hide behind a skillful attorney’s twisting of the law. God will judge our motives, our secret goals, and our primary purpose.
So, let others praise you if they want. As for us, with every breath that we have we should praise the Giver of gifts.
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