Don’t Brag

Proverbs 27:2 Never praise yourself. Let others do it for you.

There’s no doubt that we’d all like to be liked. There’s no doubt that, given the opportunity, we’d love to do things and say things to impress other people. But that doesn’t always play out that well, now does it?

Back in the day, you had to be pretty special to publish a book or even get an article printed in a newspaper. So by and large, our self-expression was limited to our own inner circle, a few hundred people at most.

These days though, with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and whatever other social media you’d like to name, we have the ability to post online comments to newspaper articles, and on other people’s blogs – not to mention how easy it is to start your own blog. Hey, the sky’s the limit, right?

And so much of the stuff you see online is about self-aggrandisement, or to put more simply, bragging. And it’s not pretty! So just in case you’re tempted …

Proverbs 27:2 Never praise yourself. Let others do it for you.

Of course, there’s nothing new in any of this. Charles Spurgeon put it like this:

The Holy Spirit finds modesty so rare that He takes care to record it. Say much of what the Lord has done for you but say little of what you have done for the Lord. Do not utter a self-glorifying sentence.

Look, there’s a real temptation in this world to talk ourselves up, to try to get people to think well of us. But seriously, how often has someone else’s bragging impressed you? (Now there’s a sobering thought!)

But when others speak well of you, that carries much more weight. And if the truth be known, we only tend to speak well of humble people.

Never praise yourself. Let others do it for you.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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