Have you ever seen anyone boast? What comes to mind when you think of someone who boasts about themselves all the time? I immediately think of someone who is arrogant. An arrogant person is someone who sees themselves as superior to others. There is no room for arrogance in love.
I am truly enjoying exploring 1 Corinthians 13 and how loving myself fits into this chapter. To be honest, I am struggling with what to write for love does not boast. It is forcing me to hold a mirror up to myself and truly see myself as others see me. Am I an arrogant person? Unfortunately, at times, I can say yes. There are times in my life that I have been arrogant, and most of the time it is an internal dialogue of arrogance.
In order to make myself feel better, I have judged others’ situations and that is not love. When you don’t know how to truly love yourself, you start to rely on focusing on other people’s downfalls rather than looking at yourself. It could be as simple as judging someone for what they order at a restaurant. I would feel like I had my life more together because on that particular day I ordered a salad and someone else ordered fries. How ridiculous does that sound? But it was a way I was coping with not truly understanding love.
Leaning on your own arrogance to make yourself feel loved will always fail. You become bitter and harsh. Being boastful (arrogant) will make you a very lonely person. No one wants to be around someone who is constantly judging others to make themselves feel better. Arrogant people are lonely people.
When you truly love yourself, there is no room for arrogance. True love focuses on the loved one. This is still true when you are the loved one. To truly love anyone else the way Christ wants us to do, you have to learn to love yourself. In Jeremiah 50:32 it says, “The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her.” How scary to think if you continue to be arrogant and self-centered, no one will be there when you need them the most.
Love does not boast. I will not put others down in order to make myself feel better. That is not true love to myself. That is not true love to others. It is harmful to everyone around you. Arrogance and boasting, whether you are secretly judging others, or boasting to someone around you, will always leave you alone and lonely.
If you take nothing away from this article, please hear this, you never look good trying to make someone else look bad. Trying to make yourself feel loved, look better, feel better will never come from making others feel less than, feel bad, feel unloved.
This week’s recipe is a delicious chicken spaghetti, but one that won’t leave you feeling heavy. It is light, tasty, lemony, and just simply scrumptious! My family loves this dish with chicken, but as always, feel free to make this work for your family. It would be equally delicious with shrimp, pork loin, or filet.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
November 14, 2024
