Thursday, January 4, 2024

Say No To The Yes Man

"The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise.
He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.
"
Proverbs 15:31-32 (NKJV)

The term, "Yes man", refers to someone who always seems to agree with whatever another person is saying.  Sometimes in a business, a boss or leader will only want to have people around them who agree with and support whatever they say, they want a yes man.  But no good boss or leader just wants people who agree with everything they say, without any opportunity for input from any other point of view.  No one knows everything, and having other people who can bring wise and constructive input to us is always helpful.

No one does everything right, and wise people look for ways to improve what they are doing.  Someone who does not look for ways to improve and develop themselves is foolish.  What hurts people is not that they make a mistake, but what hurts people is their refusal to listen to input from others.  By paying attention to wisdom from others, each and every one of us can do what we do better.  This is why we need other spiritually mature believers around us to help us and give us wisdom in what we are doing.

A good question for all of us is, "who can correct us", who do we allow to speak into our life?  If we only listen to those who agree with everything we say, no matter what we say, does that mean that everything we say is right, or is it that we only allow the "yes men" to be our associates?  If we are unwilling to listen to wise input from others, we are in danger of having serious problems.  We do not want to be the kind of people who think we know everything and will not listen to others; we need to be wise and receive instruction from others.

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