No Room to Boast - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us?”
Matthew 13:54–56 NKJV

No Room to Boast
We read about four brothers of the Lord Jesus—sons of Joseph and Mary—but we only recognize two of the names. Many consider that James and Judas, who were the instruments God used to write the epistles which bear their names, are two of the brothers named in the above mentioned verses. What happened to the others, we do not know. This is a lesson for us. We learn from this that it is not our family heritage or family privileges that qualify or give us rights to our relationship with the Lord. James and Jude considered themselves only as slaves of God and the Lord Jesus, and this is how they identify themselves in the epistles that bear their names.

We must remember that it is not ourselves, but God, who has dealt to each one what He knows is needful and best. And it is good for us to recognize that it is only due to the grace of God we are what we are. It is He who has entrusted His things into our hands. There is no room for us to boast or complain but just to work faithfully, serving Him, knowing that we can do all things only through Christ who strengthens us, and remembering that one day we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of ourselves to God, to receive the things done in the body, according to what we have done.

May we constantly remind ourselves of the words to the Colossians: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (3:17).

-- Albert Blok