Howard Hughes, Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Joan Rivers, and hundreds of other well-known people died from alcohol or drug abuse. These names don’t include all of the famous people who committed suicide. How can people who were admired by the world and seemed to have everything be drawn into the destruction and death of alcohol and drug abuse?
The World’s Flattery and Admiration Leave You Empty
Let’s look at their definitions to understand how flattery or admiration can be harmful and deadly in this world.
- Flattery is defined as excessive and insincere praise given especially to further one’s own interests. The motive of flattery is self-serving without any consideration for others. Yet, why do flattering words stroke our ego and ignite temporary feelings of being liked, loved, and important even when we know people are using flattery to manipulate us? Solomon, the wisest man in the Bible, tells us his findings.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart, they speak.
Psalm 12:2-3, ESV - Admiration is defined as respect and warm approval. You may justly receive admiration from other people, and it’s okay to accept a compliment. However, it is wise to avoid using imperfect people’s admiration to determine your goodness, value, and purpose. Imperfect people change their thoughts and loyalty in the blink of an eye. Their admiration today that takes you to the top of the mountain can become their abusive condemnation tomorrow that plummets you into feeling rejected, abandoned, and empty. When you rely on imperfect people, you are at their mercy. If you are Christ’s disciple, your love, identity, value, belonging, purpose, and eternity all come from him alone, not the world. We must never forget what Jesus tells us.
But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
Mark 10:18, NASB
Disciples of Christ must give God the glory because only He is good.
Christ’s Ways Help You Recognize the Temptations of the World
No one is born knowing the love and truth of God and Jesus. Without knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will operate from the desires of your sinful flesh, which craves people’s attention, approval, and praise. These worldly accolades can fool you into believing the world loves, likes, values, and adores you. Why would the world deceive you? The disciple John gives us a picture of the ways of the world.
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:15-17, NLT
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces constantly fight each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
Galatians 5:16-21, NLT
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Being Christ’s Disciple Helps You Focus on Him
No matter how much flattery you receive from imperfect people, they can never fill you with the perfect love, priceless value, belonging, and purpose that comes through Jesus Christ. Unless you choose to seek God with all your heart, learn his truth, and accept Jesus Christ as your savior and live as his disciple, you will be a slave to your self-focused sinful desires. Without the truth of God and Christ’s saving grace and power living in you, sin’s power and Satan’s influence remain over you. He is a pro at using your sinful desires to keep you enslaved to the destructive ways of the world.
When people don’t know God’s truth or Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, they will look to others to feel loved, valued, belong, and have a purpose. When we are let down, betrayed, abandoned, rejected, condemned, or forgotten, we try to escape or numb the pain with all kinds of addictions. The long list of famous people who have chosen this road confirms these truths.
However, Jesus tells us.
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief (devil) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:9-10, NLT
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.
1 Peter 5:8-9, NLT
When we choose to be Christ’s disciple, we focus on serving him and loving others as he has loved us. We learn and live in healthy boundaries and only seek to honor and glorify God. Living in and with Christ relieves us from the impossible yearning and striving for the world’s attention, flattery, or admiration.
The apostle Paul tried to please the religious authorities, leaving him deceived and lost. But Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and taught him God’s truth for several years before he began preaching. The transformation of Paul’s mind, heart, faith, and life yielded thirteen books in the New Testament that teach us about Christ and how to live for him. Paul clarifies that we cannot simultaneously serve and please the world, including our sinful flesh and God.
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:10, ESV
Will you choose to let flattery or admiration from imperfect people determine if you are loved, valued, belong, and have a purpose? Will you choose to be a disciple of Jesus and be freed from the unquenchable desire to have people’s and the world’s attention and approval? Choose the life, truth, love, grace, forgiveness, mercy, and peace of Jesus!
