READ: 1Thessalonians 2:1-6
For neither at any time used we FLATTERING words…:- 1 Thessalonians 2:5
To “flatter” means “to excessively praise someone insincerely in order to gain favour for yourself.” Many leaders are surrounded by people who flatter them. They speak words which are not true in order to feed their ego. They make the leader feel that he is the greatest and the best. “…A FLATTERING mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:28).
It is not only secular leaders who fall prey to flattering hypocrites. Christian leaders are also subject to the insincerity of such people. What then is the effect of flattery? The answer is: destruction and ruin.
Remember the story of Herod in the New Testament. He was a good speaker and a powerful orator (Acts 12:21-23).
Herod attended a ceremony and he was the main speaker. After his speech, people crowded around him and shouted his
praises. They told him, “We’ve never heard anyone speak the way you spoke today. It was just supernatural.” They continued, “You know, if God Himself were to have spoken, He couldn’t have done any better than you did, O great Herod.”
They injected pride into him. Herod believed he was becoming God. The Lord had to prove immediately that he was a mere man. He died that very day. “…with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips…” (Psalm 12:2-3).