A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sing with hundreds of other Christians in Nashville who were gathered to record worship songs for Praise & Harmony, a group that produces resources to help encourage the practice of four-part, a cappella singing among churches of Christ. One of the songs we learned and recorded was an arrangement of a song by Keith Getty, Matt Papa, and Matt Boswell titled All My Boast is in Jesus. Listen to the words of the first verse and chorus:

[Verse 1] What wonder of wonders, what love is this
That Christ would die for me
His goodness, His merit, His righteousness
This sinner’s only plea
O foolish pride, be crucified
The work is finished

[Chorus] All my boast is in Jesus
All my hope is His love
And I will glory forever
In what the cross has done

This song beautifully confronts us with some of the great truths of our faith. It truly is a wonder of wonders that Christ would die for me! We might consider dying for someone we already deeply love and who is dear to us, but who would die for someone who openly hates him? Yet this is exactly what Christ did: “…God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In Christ’s substitutionary death he bore our sins, and now by faith we can bear his name. This means that when we stand before God on the judgement day, there is only one thing by which we can plead for his mercy—not any goodness, merit, or righteousness of our own, but his goodness, merit, and righteousness (Romans 3:21–22, 5:17)! 

Because of Christ’s offer of salvation to us, our boast is always and forever in Christ and in Christ alone. We do not boast in our riches or our intellect or our goodness or anything else—we boast in Christ. Knowing him is our greatest treasure, our deepest joy, and our highest calling. Truly, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD” (Jer. 9:23–24).