Tuesday, July 1
Cubic Zirconium
A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
Proverbs 29:5
A young woman came to work one morning wearing a huge diamond on her finger, prompting shouts of "Liz, are you engaged?" "No," said Liz, laughing. "It's a joke—nothing but cubic zirconium. I found it the other day on the tray at the dime store."
Cubic zirconium is a mineral that is hard, optically flawless, and cheap. It resembles a diamond so closely that sometimes only a trained eye can tell the difference. But it isn't a diamond—and that's the point.
A similar comparison exists between true compliments and flattering words. They may look alike, but one is sincere and precious; the other is insincere and cheap. A genuine compliment is valuable and useful; it builds us up and strengthens our hearts. But as Warren Wiersbe says, "Friends who flatter us and avoid telling us the truth are only doing us harm."
Let's compliment someone today, making sure our words are truthful, sincere, humble, and diamond-like in quality.
Flattery is telling the other person precisely what he thinks about himself.
Dale Carnegie
Read-Thru-the-Bible
Proverbs 3:1 - 5:23
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