It used to be easy for me to have pride. There were so many things that God has gifted me with. Decides, at the time I let my pride be used in such a way that it exalted me and made me feel better about myself. However, God never intended for me to use his gifts for my own self promotion. Pride quickly became a forced defence mechanism to pain. I used to resort to it to justify myself; to make myself feel more adequate. I highlighted my strengths while bandaging or ignoring my weaknesses. My weaknesses were hidden. Eventually when I fully surrendered my life (putting every aspect of my life into God’s control) to God, he had shown me that there is strength in weakness (1 Corinthians 13) through him. He uses us in our weakness when we rely on his strength in accordance to his will. Why does he do this? It brings him the most glory, and allows us to become a better example for him, rather then us relying on our own strength from which we could then boast of ourselves. He uses what is not, to nullify what is.
This then brought me to a thought. If God prefers to use me in weakness rather then focusing on MY strength (which would make me rely on myself) then how am I in any way adequate? I am by far inadequate, even in my strengths. God’s strength comes through our weakness. Let that circulate in your mind for a while. We find our adequacy only in Jesus Christ our Lord. What we have on our own is not enough to take us through the Christian life and through God’s will as we have been called. So, pride goes out the window, and about one thing I can boast: I can boast in the Lord! God has replaced my pride. Really, what reason do I have that I can even dare to have pride? Everything that I have is God’s. I am what he has made me to be. Boast in the Lord!
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