Ever since the days of Babel, human beings have sought to make a name for themselves (Gen. 11:4). Today, our towers can lead to the same doom if we do not trust in Yahweh. C.S. Lewis rightly referred to this as “the anti-God state of mind.” This form of pride that seeks to reach the heavens without the God of heaven suffers a great fall.
The Apostle Paul interpreted this as a wrongful boasting.
However, there is a form of biblical boasting God endorses:
“But far be it from me to boast [in anything or anyone], except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Boasting assumes our excessive trust in our own achievements; it builds towers and disregards the Architect. Yet, the Apostle Paul urges us to boast, but he rightly turns the direction of our boasting. For Paul, our boasting is not in our own conquest, it’s the conquest of Another. We boast in a tree that was cut down to save us. We pride in a tree, shaped in the form of a sword where our Savior hung.
Jesus died to become the Savior of all who believe; the protector of all those born anew. In him, we are rescued, restored, and redeemed. We boast in a Savior who conquers by dying.
We do not build towers to the heavens to make a name. Jesus ascended to heaven for us for there is no greater name in heaven above and earth below. In these remaining thirty-three days, let’s boast! Let us proudly exalt the cross of Jesus. Let’s show Christian pride in a bloody cross bearing a beautiful Savior.
Prayer: O, Lord, who ascends to the heaven by way of a tree, make us to boast in serving a God who died for our transgressions and who gives us his name that we might be whole, Amen.
Hymn of the Day: Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
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