Boasting About Christ

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

BOASTING ABOUT CHRIST

Rom 15:17-22

17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— 19 by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. 21 Rather, as it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."   22 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

NIV

This is a personal witness by Paul of his mystery and it would seem there is not much that applies to us. However, there is a few things that do strike a cord in our hearts. Right from the start we can see that we should glory in Christ Jesus for our service to God. It is interesting this translated as glory means to boast as well as praise. We know from other times that we should not boast about what we do, but rather we should be boasting in Christ Jesus for it is he who has given us life, as well as sent us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and give us the power to serve God. How can we even think to venture to speak of our accomplishments, our abilities or anything that we are doing in service to the Lord, but rather it is Christ who is working in us and through us by the power of the Spirit. It is he who accomplishes everything in us. This is why we personally believe that it does not matter what kind of personal abilities we might have or not have, for when the Spirit manifests or expresses himself within and though us, we will do great things for the kingdom of God. It is even possible through the power of the Spirit that we might do signs and miracles, if we but only believe and  rely on the power of the Spirit rather on relying on our own abilities based on the amount of education or training we have received through the instruction of men. It would seem that when we rely on our abilities it is followed by our boasting in ourselves. It is when we are weak, it is when he  is strong and when he is strong, it is his power that works in and through us to bring honor and glory to his name. There is something else that Paul says that fits right into this truth. It is his ambition which has been instilled in him by the Spirit to preach the gospel of Christ where it is not known, rather than building upon someone else’s work. That sounds a little conceited, but at the some time is sounds as through he is driven by the Spirit to do that which he is supposed to do and not do that which other are doing. We each have a gift from God and through the expressing of the Spirit within us, we do that which we must do, that should be our ambition, to serve the Lord as we have been called in whatever way the Lord needs us to work for the kingdom of God. Yes,  we fit into the body, and we work for the benefit of the kingdom and for the good of the whole body. All the gifts of the Spirit are manifested within us for the common good. So let us serve him,  as we give him all the glory, boasting in Christ and him along for the great things he has done and is doing in and through us. We must always remember, he is the potter and we are his clay to mold and fill us as he sees fits. Let us always boast about the potter.