Proverbs 25:14. Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.
If you’ve ever lived through a season of drought, then you have probably felt the promise of a cloudy day. As the clouds roll in you welcome them knowing that “we could really use the rain.” But then, just as quickly as they came, the clouds move on having not released a single rain drop to the ground. Out comes the sun again to scorch the earth. Or maybe for your kids it’s the promise of a snow day but then…not a single flake. Once again the sky has teased us with its gifts not given.
Our proverb for today is saying that there are people like this. They promise to help with the ministry, but never show up. The church member that says they will give of their time and finances, but don’t hold your breath. The parent who breaks promise after promise to their kids, choosing to overwork rather than show up on time to their child’s game. The politician that boasts of all the changes they will bring, but then never delivers on those boasts. The manager that says work conditions will improve, but her workers are all still waiting.
The worst part is that for this kind of person the promise of change is a boast. A source of their internal pride. Are they just flat out liars, or are the delusional? Self-deceived? Is there a cognitive dissonance? Do they actually believe that their good intentions are enough? But, as they say, isn’t the path to Hell paved with good intentions?
Surely it is. Satan himself is the greatest example of today’s proverb. The Devil makes promise after promise to us but then fails to deliver. Consider Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. You will be like God was the promise. The boast. But this boast was a rainless cloud. Not only did it fail to deliver, it threatens to destroy us all. Praise God, Jesus did not fall for Satan’s trickery in the wilderness. Christ saw right through the Devil’s boast. His delusional promise of things that weren’t his to give in the first place.
What about you? Are you slowly becoming this kind of person? Boasting of all you can give without ever following through. Making and breaking promises? Self-promoting without ever self-giving?
Galatians 6:14. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
In Christ, our only boast is the cross. God has never made a promise that he has not kept in Christ and his cross. Those promises, those gifts are living IN YOU, Christian. So stop boasting in your own strength, your own gifts, your own promises made, and instead start boasting only in the cross of Christ. Then let that same life and love of Christ overflow out of you, not in the form of promises, but in the form of the person and presence of Christ.
You: Are there any promises or boasts you’ve made lately that you have not followed through with?
You in Christ: How does our union with Christ fulfill all of God’s promises to us?
Christ in you: How does knowing that every promise of God is fulfilled by Christ in you, allow you to live out of his life without making promises or boasts?
Pray: Father, let my only boast be Jesus. I’m tired of making promises I will never keep. Keep me living in your promise of grace and love, and let Christ live through me. Amen.
To Live is Christ 