day 88: Better To Keep It To Yourself

I was with some friends the other night and as usual in most conversations, the subject drifted to a work situation. One of the guys was describing a person who he works with who no matter what the topic or issue will turn the attention to himself and all the great things he has done. My friend described it as "sickening" and so predictable that everyone knows that it is coming. As such, this person is avoided and others don't want to be assigned projects or work with him. As I reflected on this, it made me wonder if the person who is the attention-grabber even knows that he is being this way and worse, does anyone really care enough about him now to pull him aside and let him know. Probably not on both fronts. It is very easy to become an attention-grabber and focus on yourself rather than others. Work is sort of set up that way anyway with individual contributions being called out and recognized and rewarded so often. But this idea of boasting and pounding on our chests about our achievements runs counter to the life that we are supposed to be living. I love what Paul has to say about it in 2 Corinthians 10:18. He says, "When people boast about themselves, it doesn't count for much." That's about as in your face as something could be said. He is telling us that all of the bravado and the trying to get the attention and the credit is wasted time, energy and effort. Simply put, "it doesn't count much". We only have so much time in the day, the week, and in our careers so shouldn't' we spend that time on the things that do count for something not the things don't count much? The things that count are the time that we spend furthering our purpose and strengthening our relationship with God and others. Today when the credit is getting doled out, the best thing you might do is to just keep your thoughts and words to yourself and let the boasting about something great you did be done by someone else. That moment of silence and restraint might actually end up being something that does count after all.

Reference: 2 Corinthians 10:18 (New Living Testament)