What Do You Boast In?

I believe that we all have something about ourselves that we "boast" in. If we do not, then we are desperately searching for that item. It is human nature to cling to the one area that we can truly "boast" about. Child psychologists strongly recommend that you get your child involved in things that they can be confident about. This will help them weather the adolescent years when their self esteem is under fierce attack.
We say to ourselves, "I am not as beautiful as I would like to be, but at least I am athletic or smart or rich, etc." Human nature seems to compel us to find our value by what we have to offer to society. We place greater value on those who have more to offer. Is this wrong?
In Jeremiah 9:23-24, "The LORD says: Let not the wise man bask in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, not the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: That they truly know me, and understand that I am the Lord of justice and of righteousness whose love is steadfast; and that I love to be this way." God always surprises us with His perspective. That is why, deep down, I always say, "If the world thinks this way, God thinks the opposite."
This is hard to take. When we spend our whole lives carefully building our self-esteem to the point where we finally feel good about ourselves 99% of the time...and God throws a curve ball. I hate that sometimes. I like to get my life together and feel good about it for the next ten or twenty years. I want to boast about myself. It took a lot of work to find something to boast about. I do not naturally have anything that the world would look at and admire...no beauty, riches, power, etc.
But there is good news. In fact, it is fantastic news! When God dismantles a false idea, he replaces it with an out-of-this world truth. I do NOT have to find my value in beauty or riches or the world's wisdom! What a relief! Probably not good news for the beauty queens or Bill Gates. That concept would not resonate very well with them if you told them this nugget of truth. But truth is truth. You can't change it just because you don't agree with it.
So why is this so exciting? Because there is something very precious to boast about. Everyone can boast about it...not just a select few. Verse 24 says, "Let them boast in me alone!" God is enough to boast about! Again, you must look at this with spiritual eyes and not the deceiving colored glasses of society. Picture a rich and powerful man who does not know the LORD. Next to him place a financially struggling young man who has decided that Jesus Christ alone is LORD of his life and is passionate in his pursuit of him. Society will find no value in the poor man, but will quote the rich man and will desire to know his "secrets to success." But who has actually has something to boast about? The man who has access to the creator of the universe! He can "walk boldly before the throne of grace" anytime he wants. God has invited him to "ask for wisdom" anytime he needs it. God has reminded the poor man that he owns the "cattle on a thousand hills." I would rather be hooked up with the poor man anyday. He has more to boast about.
I haven't done a cliff-hanger in a few weeks. My next blog will continue with the way to find our value.