Let’s face it, we like hanging out with people who agree with us; who say nice things to us; who, frankly, tell us what we want to hear. After all, who wants to be around those cantankerous individuals constantly pointing out our faults?

The problem with that is that we end up creating a bubble, a mutual admiration society, where we each reinforce the things that make us feel good. That’s how street gangs descend into violence. That’s how the rich end up ignoring the suffering of the poor.

It all began with the serpent tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden. At first she resisted, saying …

Genesis 3:3-6But there is one tree we must not eat from. God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch that tree, or you will die.’” But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!” The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.

As 19^th-century theologian J.C. Ryle once said, “Eve found the serpent more trustworthy than God, not because of its credentials, but because the serpent said what she wanted to hear.”

Be careful of surrounding yourself with likable, ill-credentialed people, intent on tickling your ego.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.