“Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we
have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with
you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on
worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.” (2 Corinthians 1:12 NIV)
What is our boasting? Christ Jesus is our boasting only. Nothing
else can be, ever. Achievements, status, wealth, no no. Whatever done relying
on worldly wisdom will disappear and be wasted. Only things done relying on God’s
grace will last forever. God is holy and true. There is no value in man who is
born of Adam. “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all
people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in
each person.” (John 2:24-25 NIV) “But the things that come out of a person’s
mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come
evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony,
slander.” (Matthew 15:18-19 NIV)
God’s grace is desperately in want for humanity and thus as
He promised He sent His Son Christ Jesus that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have eternal life. By and though His grace, man has been redeemed,
being restored to have value in God. The state of man in Adam is absolutely
useless and hopeless in the sight of God. That’s what we are in Adam. We were
plainly and completely dead in sins and trespasses, says Apostle Paul
(Ephesians 2:1). What do you do with the dead? Let the dead be buried, precisely.
Why, because the dead are useless and inoperable.
In due time, God sent His Son Christ Jesus to redeem the
dead through the ransom of His life on the cross in Calvary, making the dead alive
through the power of resurrection. That’s what happened to every believer in
Christ Jesus. Since we have been made alive by the power of God, nothing can
harm or separate us from the bondage to the righteousness of God.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As
it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as
sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39 NIV)
Although our bodies are still under the influence and access
of sin, our spirits are liberated completely and perfectly through the cleansing
power of the blood of Christ Jesus once for all. Therefore, there is no condemnation
for those who are in Christ, says the scripture (Romans 8:1). That’s the reason
Apostle Paul boast of confidently, saying “Now this is our boast: Our
conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and
especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We
have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.” (2 Corinthians
1:12 NIV)
Paul is not lying here that he conducted with integrity and
godly sincerity because he did not rely on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. All
worldly wisdom is coming from the devil, the mastermind of deception. Darkness and
confusion are the ultimate destiny of worldly wisdom without exception. But God
is light and no shadow of turning in Him. He is straight and firm like the
bedrock. The grace of God made us alive and stand still in the midst of storms
and turmoil with all integrity and godly sincerity. That’s Paul’s boasting,
yours and mine.
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