Psalm 54-56 Romans 3

“God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same:” (Romans 3:22 NCV)

In Romans 3 Paul deals with the solution to sin: God’s grace. He begins by noting that God’s punishments are just especially when people try to avoid punishment by noting that their sin reveals more of the truth of God. He reminds us that the Law is a path to death and then gets to the solution. People are made right with Him through faith. Everyone comes to God the same way because we’ve all sinned and fallen short of His glory. The only way to come to Him is through grace, which is a free gift of God. If we all come to God on the basis of grace, that should take away our ego. What do we have to brag about if God’s the one who did all the work?

Christians don’t brag of course, at least not overtly. We’ve mastered the art of the humble brag, though. Our humble brags often show off our spirituality by noting how much more we should do. “I feel so bad that I ran out of money and could only help four of those people on the street.” “I wish I had more time to pray. I got a phone call while I was praying and had to go into work early today. One hour just isn’t enough time.” Or <gulp> “I was so busy at church today that I was late writing my devotional.” Maybe we don’t really mean to be bragging when we make those humble brags. I’m grateful for what God allows me to do to serve Him. I realize that the only reason I can do anything is the God made me right with Him because of His grace and my faith in Jesus. As Paul notes in the book of Ephesians, I can’t even take credit for the faith I have because that’s also a gift from God. When it comes to faith, I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. God did it. And what an amazing thing God did. He took people who had no knowledge of Him and those who worked against them and turned them into the people of God. We come from many different backgrounds and all walks of life, but we can say, with no humble brag, that we are the children of God. The only brag is about the amazing God we serve and His overwhelming love for us. I don’t know what you’d call the opposite of a humble brag, but if God could bring a sinner like me into His presence and clean me up, then I have no doubt He could do the same for You.

Lord, You alone are God. There is no one like You. There are no other gods in this universe that You created. And yet, You have loved me as a person – and not just me, but the whole world. Give me the grace to share Your love with others every day.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved