Surrender the Boasting

“Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.” 1 Cor 1:31

We live in a society that loves to boast. We love to show off all we do and all we have in social media. The definition of boasting is “to speak with exaggeration and excessive pride, especially about oneself.” In other words, boasting means bragging. We love to brag about ourselves, our children, the trip that we took, the party that we attended, the house we live in, the car we drive, etc. 

As I was driving home today, I was listening to the podcast “Monday Morning Homilist” with Father Manny Alvarez from Little Flower. He was talking about yesterday’s second reading from the first letter to the Corinthians: “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.” 1 Cor 1:31. When I went to mass yesterday at St. Matthew, the focus of the homily was on the Beatitudes, since that was what the gospel was about: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they who mourn, blessed are the meek…”. It was a great homily, but listening to the podcast today gave me an entire different perspective. 

We are blessed when we boast in the Lord, not when we boast about ourselves. And yes, when we boast about God, we may upset some people who think that we are too holy-holy. The irony is, at least in my personal experience, that for every single “friend” I have lost because they thought I was too much into Christ, I have earned three “true” friends. The older I get, the less I care what other people think. If I want to boast about my faith, I have the right to do so, and whomever doesn’t like it, they don’t have to read it. I personally much rather read a post from Sister Julia whom I follow on Instagram because she boasts in the Lord, than to read a post from Kim Kardashian whom I don’t follow because all she does is boast about herself and her “perfect” life.

Father Manny said in his podcast that there is an entire community that is afraid to talk so they remain silent about their faith. They support those who boast in the Lord, but they don’t have the courage to do the boasting themselves. Which group are you part of, the silent majority or the loud minority?

“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness… and blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you… because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” Matthew 5:10-12. 

During the month of February, I challenge you to surrender the personal boasting and switch it to boasting in the Lord. Instead of bragging about ourselves, let’s brag about God because He is awesome. Let’s not be afraid to boast in the Lord. I can guarantee you that for every criticism you receive, you will get two accolades. People are hungry for the Lord, and they are tired of listening to those that all they do is brag about themselves. At the end of the day, there is only one person that matters, and that is Jesus Christ. As long as He is happy, I don’t care who gets upset. Therefore, I choose to boast in the Lord.

Copyright © 2023 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.