DEVOTION
PROVERBS
FREE OF FLATTERY
Prov 28:23
23 He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has
a flattering tongue.
NIV
It would seem that flattery is not such a good thing after all. When we
are always giving a flattering word, the person might think they are just a
really good person or how wonderful they are. Maybe sometimes people do good
things, such as the choir might sing especially well and of course we flatter
them, maybe not with words, but with applause. When asked about this applause
some might say they are applauding God. But come on, let’s get real, because we
never applaud the pastor after his sermon which is just as much of, maybe more,
God then a choir singing. We applaud the singers because we can’t sing, maybe
they can’t either but is sounds pretty good and we applaud them. We flatter
people when they do something special, we applaud our children for their Christmas
play. There are all sorts of ways we give praise to people which is flattery.
But it may be the worst type of flattery when we tell people they are such good
Christians. Hopefully no one ever tells us that. It is not good to be flattered
all the time. It stunts our growth in both our humanity and our spirituality.
Although it might sound good to our ears, we gain nothing by a flattering
tongue. This should give us a reason to ponder on giving praise or flattery to
others. They gain nothing by flattery nor do we. It would seem if we are
truthful with a friend, telling them they are in error in some way, we both
gain. They gain insight into improvement by some type of change in their behavior
or attitude, and we gain more favor in both their eyes and God’s. Being honest
about someone’s need to make a correction brings a deeper relationship. Flattery
may only bring a meaningless relationship. So it would seem we should be about
living in relationship so that we might assist each other in both our journey
in our humanity and our spirituality. However in considering this statement perhaps
we cannot separate humanity from spirituality, as we are to offer our humanity
as a living sacrifice.
Rom 12:1
12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer
your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your
spiritual act of worship.
NIV
1 comment:
Hello Rich Westerwelle. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India. I am glad to stop by your profile on the blogger and the blog post.I am also blessed and feel privileged and honored to get connected with you as well as know you and about you bring the servant of the Lord writing devotions. I do remember visiting your profile on the blogger earlier but do not remember commenting on the post. I am blessed by your devotion on Free of Flattery. As a Pastor the Lord once again cautioned me to be free from flattery. I love getting connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged, strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 38 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. we reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west too come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. we would love to have your grown up grand children/ or adult children come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you, your family and friends as well as wishing you and your family a blessed and a Christ centered New year. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede.
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