This Tuesday of Easter Week we reflect further on the Isaac Watts hymn by using verse 2 as a focus.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood
Thinking more of ourselves than we should is an unfortunate human tendency. Many of us have this trait. Some recognise it and seek to suppress it or cover it up. Others make no such efforts.
This characteristic is usually seen in what we call ‘boasting’. Most dictionaries define boasting to be,
‘excessively proud and self-satisfied talk about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities’.
Unfortunately this way thinking about ourselves can drift in to the way we view our salvation.
If we are a Christian then we can drift into thinking that there is something about us that deserves to be chosen and forgiven by God. In fact, God should be pleased to have such a gifted and worthy person as part of his kingdom.
But the Bible repeatedly teaches us that the only thing we have the right to boast about is the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Romans 5:1-3 Paul declares to the church in Rome,
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”
A few verses later in Romans 5:11 Paul affirms that we,
“boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
In speaking to the church in Galatia Paul says,
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is Christ who brings us hope.
It is his sacrifice that brings us reconciliation.
Taking these verses from scripture and Watts’ verse means that we should be ‘excessively proud of the Jesus Christ’s achievements on our behalf on the cross’.
The only thing that makes us worthy to be called a Christian is the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice.
That’s what we boast in.
Boasting in Christ means taking the finger away from pointing to ourselves and instead lift our finger to point to the Lord Jesus Christ raised up on a cross for us.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood
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