Flattery makes us
feel good, for a little while. Everyone
likes to have their ego stroked. We all
want to be noticed and appreciated. We are
geared to being liked. Some will go out
of their way to be liked. Some will do
drastic things in order to be liked.
Some will even impose evil things on others in order to make themselves
feel important in the eyes of others.
Some people crave flattery so much that they are driven to portray a
persona that they are not in order to be looked up.
However, no matter how
much flattery a person may receive, it doesn’t last. No one always does things that are worthy of
flattery. No one is so good all the time
that others can sing their praises. In
fact, feasting on flattery is damaging to the soul. It makes us feel good, but it cannot make us
good. When all we hear is flattery, it
goes to our heads. We get the delusional
idea that what we hear is who we are.
Away from the limelight, we know that we are not always what others seem
to believe about us.
Frankness is far more
beneficial to us than flattery. When
others will tell us the truth about us, we can help ourselves to change. Frankness is needed. Everyone needs to be surrounded by people who
are not impressed by them and are willing to honestly tell them what others
either don’t see or won’t tell.
Being frank with
someone is good, but it should always be done with love. The Lord wants us to help one another to grow
and become instead of tearing each other down by the things we say or the way
we say them. Whenever you are inclined
to be frank with someone, pray before you speak. You should care enough to speak out when it
is needed, but you should always do it with the desire to help and not hinder a
person.
And, when someone is
loving enough to be frank with us, we should accept the truth with grace and
love. We should never be so proud to
think that we don’t need to be corrected and helped. We should never think of ourselves in a
flattery, but false, way. We should
accept what we hear with welcome hearts and ask the Lord to help us to do and
be better children of God.
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