Getting corrected sometimes, especially as an adult can be a tough pill to swallow, it assails our pride, we think, “I am a grown up, I’ve got life figured out already, who are you to tell me how to live my life?”

Today’s verse tells us that we should embrace criticisms from others as long as they come from a good place, meanwhile we should be very skeptical when someone showers praise on us:

Ecc 7:5  Better to be criticized by a wise person than to be praised by a fool.

As we said earlier, taking criticism sometimes hurts, but we are better off in the long run listening to someone who has our best interests in mind, that a fool who just tells us what we want to hear.

One has to wonder if Michael Jackson would still be alive today, had he taken wise counsel before his life got out of control.  This is the a pitfall that lots of rich and famous people fall into, they are surrounded by Yes-Men who tell them everything they want to hear and refuse to listen to sound advice, lots of athletes end up broke for the same reason.  

We might not be rich or famous, but it is still an important lesson for us, no matter how old we are, there is still plenty of room for wise criticism in our lives.