What are you proud of? All of us have accomplishments and have achieved goals that we can look back on with pride - especially when we had to work for them, exert ourselves and go beyond what we thought we could do. My wife, Cleo, is proud, for instance, that she has a college degree, being the first generation of her family from a rural province in the Philippines to get a degree. The distance from that fishing village to a University education is a long one but she and her siblings all went to the university, the one who went before helping the one behind, financially. It is a big deal and one to be proud of.

Pride is not always a bad thing. But for us who follow Jesus there is a source of pride that ought to go before all others. Listen to what the Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:23-24.

This is what the Lord says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom

    or the strong boast of their strength

    or the rich boast of their riches,

    but let the one who boasts boast about this:

    that they have the understanding to know me,

that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,

    justice and righteousness on earth,

    for in these I delight,”

declares the Lord.

When you think of what people are often proud of, they often fall into three areas. We are proud of how wise we are and, therefore, what we have accomplished in business or some other arena. Others are proud of what they can do through their connections, ability to get things done or negotiate. Or, we are proud of our riches, the stuff we own and therefore the stuff we can do based on our money. I know people in all three of these categories who are not only proud of their accomplishments, ability or possessions but who want others to know what they have done and become. 

God raises our sights to a much higher level when he says this: “But let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me.” Above all other things, the most important is that we know Him. Now let's qualify that because there are many who know a lot about God: they can quote scripture, debate theology, argue doctrine and even tell you what you should do on the basis of their knowledge. But that is not what God says here.

He says to boast that they have the understanding to know him, not simply to know about Him. To know Him is to have a personal relationship with Him, to be personally connected with Him.

And what does He want us to know about Him? “‘That I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” He wants us to personally experience his kindness, justice and righteousness and in knowing this about Him, practice them in our own lives. Knowing Him and His character should be the thing of highest value in our lives and as such the thing that we pursue above all other things. And in the end, if we are going to boast, this is what we should boast about: We know God and His character and we have become more like Him in the process.

Father, like many I have things that I am proud of. But teach me that above all these things it is knowing you that matters. It is your character in me that matters. Because only these things cross the line from time to eternity. Amen.