“What’s the difference between encouragement and flattery?”
Years ago, I got together for coffee with an elder from a
church where I had enjoyed happy fellowship for several years. This was
not the first time and it wouldn’t be the last; he is one of those godly older
men who takes the job of shepherding very seriously indeed, and he kept track
of me long after I had moved out of town and was no longer, strictly
speaking, his “spiritual business”.
I had worn a particularly goofy, juvenile T-shirt to the
coffee shop, and as we sat down together, he shot me a wry grin and asked, “So,
when are you going to grow up?”
That was encouragement. It sure wasn’t flattery.