BRUTAL HONESTY

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Those who flatter their neighbors are spreading nets for their feet.

Proverbs 29:5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “brutal honesty?”

At its root, it simply means to not allow another’s feelings sway you from being truthful with them.

For example, someone who might be overweight might ask someone whether or not they are. A person who is brutally honest will have no problem being honest and candid with the person telling that they are.

On the other hand, someone who is a flatterer will choose to take a different route. For although they see the person as being overweight, they will not be frank with them, opting for a false, dishonest response.

A flatterer will always tell a person what they want to hear, even if it’s not really the truth. For example, someone who is an average worker might be misled to believe that they are actually doing very well in their job. They are actually being set up for failure by the flatterer for as soon as the underachieving worker meets someone who assesses them truthfully with brutal honesty, they realize the unfortunate reality that they have a long way to go to reach their potential.

I think we may have all been on both sides of this matter, the victim of unwarranted flattery and the perpetrator of it. We certainly don’t like it when someone patronizes us and yet we too easily do the same thing to others. If we only would just pay attention to the word of God. For in so many instances, adhering to His word will keep us from failing and falling into dishonesty because everything we do will be in truth as we allow the Lord of truth to lead and guide us.

Look at our scripture today from Proverbs, Chapter 29, verse 5 as it speaks to this topic. I’ve included several translations so we can get the full essence of what God is trying to say to us:

Those who flatter their neighbors are spreading nets for their feet. (NIV)

Flattery is nothing less than setting a trap. (CEV)

A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. (ESV, HCSB)

If you flatter your friends, you set a trap for yourself. (GNT)

A flattering neighbor is up to no good; he’s probably planning to take advantage of you. (The Message)

Those who give false praise to their neighbors are setting a trap for them. (NCV)

To flatter friends is to lay a trap for their feet. (NLT)

People who spread false flattery set a trap for their targets. Men and women who try and seduce will comment on how much they love this or that about their intended victim. The truth of the matter is that the words are false and hollow, masking and concealing their true wicked motives. Typically people like this are only trying to take advantage of a person, seeking to entrap them with their dishonesty and use flattery to their advantage.

So how do we avoid falling into the trap of a flatterer? How do we avoid falling into the temptation of using flattery in sinful ways against another?

The answer to both questions is the same. We turn to the Lord.

For the Lord is truth, period. Jesus said so in John 14:6:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”

Jesus isn’t just part of the truth. He is all of it and we had better wake up and look to Him when it comes certainty and honest living. For He will always guide us in His truth and part of that truth is being truthful with others. The Lord doesn’t flatter. He’s brutally honest and tells it like it is. We aren’t to reject His truth and thus we shouldn’t rebut the truthful words that a person says to us either when the Lord is speaking in and through them.

In the end translation, the Lord wants the best for us and this is why He will always speak words of fact into our lives. As Christians, ever seeking to be Christ-like, why would we do anything else when it comes to dealing with one another?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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