DAD;S RAMBLINGS -- PILGRIM'S PROGRESS -- FLATTERY

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS – FLATTERY

"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).

"Christian and Hopeful continued on their journey. They continued on until there was a fork in the road. As they looked down each path, both appeared to be as straight as the other. They did not know which way to go."

They stood at the fork in the road, trying to decide which way to take, forgetting that the Shepherds in the Delectable Mountains had given them a map to follow, and warned them to beware of Flattery and the Enchanted Ground.

While trying to determine which route to travel, a dark-complected man in a white robe came to them, who said he was also going to the Celestial City, and that they should follow him. Before they knew it, they were led into a net – a trap from which they could not free themselves. With that the white robe fell off the man's back to reveal that he was "an angel of light" – the Flatterer. Then they understood the proverb, "A man that flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet" (Proverbs 29:5).

As they struggled in the net, a Shining One came and released them from the snare.

Flattery feels good because it appeals to our pride and our ego. Satan flatters us into thinking that we are smart enough to make our own decisions -- that we don't need to listen to the Bible or godly counsel. So we fall prey to flattery and end up in the web of pride. When we recognize our prideful spirit, we can experience the freedom of humility. "Be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (I Peter 5:5-6). Humility causes us to listen to the advice of others. Pride ignores godly counsel.

It is a downward slope from listening to flattery to pride to the snare of thinking that we are better than we are. "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to thin but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith" (Romans 12:3). There is a difference between acknowledging the gifts that God has given to me that gives God the credit, and a puffed up ego that is proud of my abilities and takes the credit for my own. One focuses on God who gave them and the other focuses on me.

Love, Dad