Christly Living
RUN FROM FLATTERERS
Memorise:
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. .. Proverbs 26:28
Read:
Acts 12:20-23
Message
Flatterers are dangerous people. They come like friends, but they are really enemies, even though some of them don't know it. In the Bible reading for today, Herod was destroyed not because he said any proud words, but because he was being flattered and did not run from the flatterers or tell them to stop. These were people who hailed him because of what they couId get from him, not because they really felt he was a great orator. Proverbs 26:28 says:
Flatterers will ruin you if you don't run away from them, if you are being flattered and it feels good, you had better check yourself because the people flattering you are not your friends; they are trap-setters sent by the devil to you. Proverbs 29:5 says:
Someone who only tells you that you are perfect and never tells you that you did anything wrong is not your friend. When you bring those who flatter you closer to you, that is like the bushmeat going to play in front of the hunter's house; destruction is near. Psalm 5:9 says:
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
Their inward part is not 'ordinary wickedness' but described as "very wickedness". Their throat - from where the flattery comes, is an open grave. You are to run from such people. When they advise you, take their advice with a pinch of salt because they don't mean well for you at all. Psalm 62:4 says they advise you so as to bring you down from your exalted position.
Sweet as their tongue may be, don't take the advice of flatterers; run from them!
Bible In One Year:
Acts 16-18
Hymn:
My hope is built on nothing less
Key Point:
If there is someone who is always praising you excessively, stay away from that fellow henceforth.
My hope is built on nothing less
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.