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I'm so proud of you!" we tell our loved ones and friends when they've performed successfully in some area. But what about us? Is personal pride always a bad thing? In the middle of warning the swaggering power elite of Judah about their impending judgment, the prophet Jeremiah acknowledged that there is a legitimate ground for boasting.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

1. How do intellectuals boast about their knowledge today? How do celebrities flaunt their power? How do the prosperous display their wealth?
   
   
2. What do you want people to admire most about you?
   
   
3. Since this passage is surrounded by predictions of judgment, what is implied about how durable these grounds for pride are?
   
   
4. By contrast, what accomplishment and satisfaction (v. 24) is of enduring value?
   
   
5. Do we deserve God's "unfailing love"? So how should we respond to his passionate loyalty to all who submit to him? How can we reflect that love?
   
   
6. How does God bring justice and righteousness? How can we reflect his priority of dealing with people on an ethical, moral level in every situation?
   
   

Ask God to help you find satisfaction in a deepening relationship with him and in commitment to those qualities in which he delights.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

23 This is what the Lord says:
"Don't let the wise boast in their wisdom,
or the powerful boast in their power,
or the rich boast in their riches.
24 But those who wish to boast
should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
who demonstrates unfailing love
and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Shape me, Lord, into a genuine Christ-follower: confident and secure but not self-promoting or arrogant; unassuming but no pushover.

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