Monday Devotional: June 12, 2023

Bible Reading: Romans 5:1-5 (NRSVUE)

¹ Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

I don’t remember my parents saying that boasting is a sin, but boasting was not welcome in our home. If I talked too long about one of my accomplishments, my mother would caution me, “Don’t blow your trumpet.” Once while my brother was struggling with some math homework, I remarked about how easy it was for me to learn math. My father quickly responded, “Don’t pat yourself on the back for a gift God gave you.”

In these verses from Romans, Paul is encouraging us to boast — in our hope and in our suffering. That’s a lot of boasting for someone taught to shun the practice. Do I follow the exhortation of Paul or stay true to the warnings of my parents?

On closer examination, I think Paul and my parents might not be so far apart. The boasting my parents warned me against is boating that puts me at the center of attention. Paul is calling us to focus on what God has made possible in our life through Jesus Christ.

The hope we boast of is not our desired outcomes but the hope of sharing in God’s glory because Christ reconciled us to God. It’s a hope that comes to us in Jesus Christ. The sufferings we boast of are the sufferings that shape us into faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Even the ability to endure these sufferings is a gracious gift of God’s Spirit working within us.

The boasting Paul encourages among us is another way of responding to God’s grace. It is an acknowledgment that the peace we have with God results from God’s gift offered to us and is not based on anything we have done or earned. It is not boasting about ourselves but about the new selves we are becoming through God’s work in us.

Prayer

God, keep me focused on your presence today so I may walk in your peace and grow in your love. Amen.

By Max O. Vincent, The Upper Room Disciplines 2023, page 201.