Good Advice, Or Not (Audio)
We all get advice from well-meaning folks…
Do this and you will never go wrong.
I’ve done this all my life and it’s always worked.
Listen to me, I would never steer you wrong!
Do this and it’s guaranteed to work!
Let me tell you how to get through this!
Here, let me give you the best recipe in the world!
Always buy this brand, and NEVER that brand!
This advice comes connected to our health, career, relationships, raising kids, getting over a sickness. You name it. For everything you face in life, someone has a remedy.
This has got to be confusing for way too many of us who simply knows that our way works best! Here, let me tell you how to fix it!
How do you filter what you receive and turn it into the best advice that works just for you? Well. I’ve got a remedy for that. Here. Let me tell you…
Is your hair turning gray? Listen. Let me give you directions that will fix that little problem!
That kid is whimpering too much. I’ve got just the solution!
Can’t sleep well? I’ve got just the right pillow and mattress combination that will fix that little problem!
Every bit of advertising tells you why you need to switch directions and try this instead of that! Visit here instead of there! Shop this play over that. Eat this instead of that. Fix this by doing that!
In fact, it seems that most advertisement has deadlines… Take advantage before time runs out! Wait. Time ends? Better spend my money before it’s too late!
It’s like the man who comes home with a new lawnmower bought on the last day of the sale. “Honey, I saved $100 on a $450 mower!” “No, honey, you just spent $350!”
I’ve been to many presentations that know how to pressure the fence straddler into spending before it’s too late. Yes. I’ve been a victim of this pressure technique. Sometimes it was good advice. Sometimes not. But just about all the time I felt guilty at being suckered into their word trap.
Someone tells you this is the best restaurant in the world? Grain of salt advice? Well, for them it may be, but you are a different and unique person. It may not be for you!
Someone tells you that the car they own is the best one in the world? Consider the source and imagine your life like theirs…maybe it is!
The other thing about advice? Ask yourself. Will it stand the test of time?
I love The Message translation for some of Solomon’s words out of his wisdom verses.
Dear friend, if bad companions tempt you, don’t go along with them. (Proverbs 1:10 MSG)
Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life; don’t for a minute lose sight of them. (Proverbs 3:21 MSG)
Dear friend, pay close attention to this, my wisdom; listen very closely to the way I see it. (Proverbs 5:1 MSG)
Then he gives you all the good things that happen if you follow his advice.
Here’s my thought. Ask for advice, be prepared to get it. But unsolicited advice is just someone’s opinion unless it’s backed up by facts. One friend told me I was foolish to not invest in some product that he had convinced was the “greatest thing since sliced bread!” No. It wasn’t stock advice to purchase shares of Coca-Cola, General Motors, Apple, Microsoft or Amazon. It was a no-name product that was another multi-level marketing scheme. I’m glad I passed. He didn’t stay in it very long before he became disillusioned!
In 1993 my Pastor loaned me his truck for a 10,000 miler round trip vacation from Houston to Alaska. He said it was the best truck/engine combination and would get up to 28 mpg… To this day I still own a Dodge with a Cummins Diesel because of this! Mine is 15 years old, 310,000 miles and aiming to last a million miles before it turns into a pumpkin. I spoke to someone last week who was in his second Dodge Truck, and the first had 485,000 miles before he sold it!
See. Some advice is good!