Don't Flatter Me

Flattery: False praise; commendation bestowed for the purpose of gaining favor and influence, or to accomplish some purpose; often denotes insincerity.

You ever come across someone who you feel acts fake around you? Maybe an individual has directed one of these things your way:

• fake smile
• Asks "how are you doing" but you know they really don't care; that they've just tagged that phrase together with "Hey." Most of the time this happens while he/she walks by and continues to walk by without stopping, hence you're just a hindrance to their destination.
• "We never see each other anymore; we should hang out," yet again that seems like another phrase to "break the ice" because they don't know what to say.
• People who sound like robots, who just repeat something they were told by someone else.
• Maybe all that happens when you get around certain people is just quoting movies, television shows, etc.
  

Christians, we know that we desire true and open relationships with others in the body of Christ. Our longings are not just for the Lord, but for pure fellowship with each other. Why then must anyone go about "flattering" each other? This is fake encouragement. This is fake fellowship. If you want to encourage me, don't do it of mere duty; do it out of love.

Now I know there's a plank in my eye; there are people that I tend to do this around, and I am sincerely working on it. But I'll be honest and say most people really don't recognize that they do this.

The reason I write this is for both you and me. To quote Larry Crabb, "Robot Christians warm friends about as much as a flight attendant gives good wishes to passengers." The call here is to be authentic. Don't ask me how I'm doing unless you really want a sincere answer. If need be, be ready to sit and listen for 5 minutes while I tell you how I'm doing. We must admit that whenever we ask someone "how ya doing" we automatically wait for "good" or "great" or "blessed" but whenever the phrase "not so good" or "man, i'm struggling" comes out, we become astonished and maybe even sometimes frightened. We think "wow I might have to actually sit down and listen to this person." Hence, the hypocrisy has hit the surface.

I didn't want this to be long, but I had to make my point. This cannot be taken as "well I guess I better not ask certain people how they are since I either don't get along with them or I just don't know them." Christians we must love as God loves us. Repent, and look at the life of Christ to see how He desperately cared for the lives of, not just His disciples, but the numerous that He healed and came into contact with everyday.

"The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life" Proverbs 10:11a