The Boastful Frog

Jeremiah 9:23-24

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There’s a story that’s told about a frog who is living in a pond and two friends who were herons and they all got along with each other. They enjoyed each other’s company. This frog was known, though to be rather prideful. He would boast a lot. He liked to brag about himself.

One day, they noticed, however, that their pond was drying up. And that wasn’t a big deal for the herons. But for this frog he needed somewhere wet to live. So they were worried. What are we going to do? They came up then with an idea. How about we find a stick and you frog, you can bite onto it. Hold on with your mouth and we herons will pick it up in our beaks. And we’ll fly you to another pond where there’s plenty of water.

Frog thought oh man, what a great idea this is. I’ve come up with a great idea. And so they enact this plan. They find a stick frog latches on with his mouth. The herons pick up that stick. They start flying. As they fly over a village some villagers down below, they look up and they point and they say, wow, look at that. What a smart frog trying to get to a new pond. Who do you think came up with that plan? The frog who was rather prideful and boastful. He couldn’t help himself. So he opened his mouth and he started to explain. I’m the one that came up with that great plan. But of course, as he opened his mouth, he let go of the stick and he fell to his doom.

It’s a silly story, of course, but it teaches an important lesson. A lesson about boasting and how dangerous, deadly self boasting can be. God’s word encourages us to not boast about ourselves. But there is one thing that we can boast in. We hear about it in Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23 and 24. This is what the Lord says

This is what the Lord says. The wise man should not boast in his wisdom. The strong man should not boast in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches. Instead, let those who boast boast about this: that they have understanding, and that they know me. They know that I am the Lord, who shows mercy, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things, declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

We boast in the Lord, not in ourselves, not in our own power. We boast in Him to whom all power belongs. We boast in him whose power has won forgiveness of sins for us. Who has opened heaven to us. We boast a Saint Paul would later on say, I boast in the Lord Jesus Christ. When I am weak, that’s when I’m strong because I’m trusting in Christ as my Savior. That’s what Paul said.

We boast in Christ and in his strength. And we admit we are nothing. We are weak. But our Savior, Jesus is strong. Because of him, we have forgiveness of sins. We have heaven opened to us. And that’s what gives us hope. That’s what we as Christians boast in now and always. We pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your Son. Help us to always boast in him and in what he has done. Help us to not boast in ourselves, or to become boastful about anything that we do or anything that we have. Help us always point our hearts and minds to our Savior, Jesus. We pray this in his name. Amen.

God’s peace be with you.