Bragging
Wrongs
Today's
Three-minute Bible Study
Print,
Study and Apply
Title:
Bragging Wrongs -----------------------
Date: 07/28/1999
Keywords:
"boast"
"know the Lord"
Welcome
to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand
strong in the face of sexual temptation.
Passage:
Philippians
3:4-10*
4. If anyone else has a
mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far
more:
5. circumcised the eighth day,
of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a
Pharisee;
6. as to zeal, a persecutor of
the church; as to the righteousness which is in the
Law, found blameless.
7. But whatever things were gain
to me, those things I have counted as loss for the
sake of Christ.
8. More than that, I count all
things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in
order that I may gain Christ,
9. and may be found in Him, not
having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law,
but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of
faith,
10. that I may know Him, and the
power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death."
Questions
1. In verses 4-6, the
apostle Paul lists several things he might boast
about. What are they?
2. He chooses not to
boast about any of these things. Why not?
3. What does Paul really value
in life (verses 7-9)?
Practical
help
As you battle the
temptation to be involved with pornography, there will
be victories along the way. There will increasingly be
seasons in which you say, "no!" to that
temptation. There will be that day when you realize
that it has been months since you logged on to a porn
Web site. Thank God for victories along the way! But
how will you handle the victories? There is a right
way and a wrong way to handle victory.
The wrong way would be to boast
about what great self-control you have. Anyone who has
battled and won over porn might think that what
commends them to God is their sexual self-control!
That would be as wrong as Paul believing that he was
commended to God for being a circumcised
Hebrew!
Victories should be celebrated,
certainly. But, the celebration lasts only long enough
to praise the Lord for the victory. After all, the
point of all our victories is the glory of God. After
a heartfelt "Thanks, Lord!" the journey continues with
the main objective being to know the Lord (verse 10).
Defeating a porn habit is not the main thing, as
important and helpful as that is. The main
thing is knowing Christ.
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1999 by eXXit
*"Scripture taken from the NEW
AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The
Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972,
1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by
permission."