You are not safe if there is nobody in your life, nobody on your team that can express concerns about your actions. You must be wary of the yes-men. People who want to impress you so much that they hold back from telling the truth. Progressive fellowships and relationships are built around the truth. No matter how unpopular such truths might be. Most friendships choose good feelings and fantasy over truth and honesty. Friends are quick to agree on issues, and will hide unpleasant activities from you, just to avoid an argument. Your band of yes-men with their chorus of “yes” to everything you do will lead you astray.
We do not commend Naaman enough for the kind of enabling environment he built around himself. He had an environment where a lowly slave girl could whisper into the ears of her mistress. And he acted on the intelligence she provided. Naaman was a high ranking officer in his days. Such a whisper from the little girl could have been ignored or drowned out. And as you follow the story, you see again how Naaman’s men challenged his decision. As it is written, “but his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed! (2 Kings 5:13-14 NLT).
You will not make much progress when you substitute applause for proper feedback. Naaman had created an environment where his officers could look him in the eyes and say the truth. It would have been a disaster if everybody with him that day chorused “yes” to endorse his decision to ignore the prophetic instruction they received. Naaman did not surround himself with yes-men and sycophants. He received the best ideas within his company, and he had a posture that made it easy for his mind to be changed by his officers.
