Boast in Christ alone

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​“For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.” Philippians 3:3 (NRSV)

What matters is Christ: not our accomplishments, credentials, experiences, knowledge, or position. Let’s not be deceived. If we think we have or are anything great, before Christ, it is “rubbish” as Paul reminds us in his letter to the Philippians.

Boasting signifies that we are pleased with our own self. However, the victorious Christian glories not in themselves. Their attention has shifted from self to Christ. What they are or are not, is no longer their prime interest. The believer knows that they have been crucified with Christ. But even more than this, they agree with Paul who said, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who died and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).

Of course, it is much easier to type these words than to live them out. Self-boasting takes a firm hold upon our hearts and is not easily removed. Just when we think we have mastered its destructive hold upon our lives, it turns up again to spoil the peace and fruitfulness we experience through humility and dying to self.

Yet in Christ, we have the victory! When our faith rises to claim the risen life of Christ as our own, the root of self will be destroyed completely. Let’s be encouraged. Allow the work of the cross to do its work in our hearts and only then will we make our boast in Christ alone.

by ​Jennifer Woodley
​​South-East Queensland, Australia - info@grace-line.net