The Strangest Words on Boasting Ever

 

Therefore, since we are justified/healed/made whole by faith, we have peace/shalom with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.  Romans 5

 

Wait, you think, we just heard this passage yesterday!  It is like the morning meditations are in summer re-run mode.  Yesterday we focused on the first part of this passage, today I want to focus on the second ~ namely that we boast in our afflictions. Note the word, “in”.  My grammar check wants to change the word to “about”, which is not what Paul says.  Paul says we boast in the midst or middle of our afflictions.

 

Wait…you think…what?

 

I don’t boast in my afflictions…I whine my way through them.  Okay, maybe, there is a part of me that boasts a bit when someone offers the strangest modern-day compliment of saying how busy I am.  There is a part of us that needs to be needed.  We like others to notice that we are working hard.  On the other hand, we can overschedule as a form of addiction to hurry and busyness.  Dallas Willard once said that to be spiritually healthy, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”  This doesn’t mean we join a monastery, but it does mean that our souls need a slower pace.  Evey new technology promises to make our life easier and give us more flexibility and free time, but rarely does.  My cell phone is a blessing, but it also means that I am always accessible.  I can write this morning anywhere and save the words to the cloud so I can always edit.  I can scroll social media anywhere, anytime, which means that mentally I can be anywhere at any time rather than right where I am.  We know that busyness has not only an external reward of being noticed by others, but also can release certain brain chemicals.  The questions for me are:

 

Are there afflictions that come from the way I am living my life?

Are there afflictions that come from the way I have formed God?  That is, I can act like God’s employee rather than God’s beloved child.

Are there afflictions that I keep letting define me?  Remember God says to Adam and Eve, who told you that you were naked?  Who told you that you don’t measure up to some standard, and why does that voice get to live rent free in your mind?  Why do you keep returning to and resurrecting that hurt rather than the love of the person right in front of you?

 

Paul is on to something that our afflictions, or pain, do need to be processed so that we can let go of the power they have over our life, rather than passing them along to others.  I continue to invite you this week to listen to the stories you share with others.

 

Are you often the underdog in the story?

Are you always the hero?

Are you often the zero, the bumbling idiot? (this tends to be my story of choice)

Are you on the sideline, silently watching?

 

What story are you telling yourself and how are you facing the afflictions from that story?  What struggles come from the stories other people are telling you to live?  When do you accept another’s script for your life without question?  May these questions rummage around the cobweb corners of your soul this day help you hear afresh and anew the story of life that is shaping you and me and we in these days.