Man has many weaknesses, but one of his biggest is he can never play the role of God. Strangely, many dream of being gods in some form or other, of having people loving them absolutely, praising them constantly, and worshipping them continually, but the moment those wishes start coming through, man cannot handle it and falls apart.

Humble, good men, when praised for their exceptional talents, lose their humility and think of themselves as gods.

The fault is twofold.

The first, of course, is the person who is being worshipped. Right at the beginning, he or she needs to be grounded. They need to understand that their talent is something they have been blessed with. They might be exceptional actors, but their talent for acting is a gift equal to someone who has been blessed with the gift of being a great accountant or architect.

As long as they remain grounded and know the praise they are getting is not for themselves but for their gift, they will be able to handle it, but when they start thinking themselves great or likening themselves to a god, because of a particular talent, the downfall begins.

As I said, the fault is twofold. The second reason for the downfall is we, the people who give adulation. We have to understand that even as we start adulating a person, we are weakening him or her. So, instead of praising the person for a good speech or sermon, introduce lines like, "I thank God for giving you the talent of speaking."

Or it could be writing, cooking or making wise decisions.

We ordinary mortals are responsible for safeguarding those with exceptional talent.

We need to know where to draw the line.

Something both those adulated and the adulator need to understand is that glimpses of great talent are like windows to what God wants to reveal about himself. Through our talent, the creator of our talent wants us to glimpse His ability to create.

Talent is just a window through which He allows us to get a foretaste of a power a billion times bigger. It's like going online, getting information through the internet and then praising our phone or laptop for being so clever.

That's exactly what we do when we praise the recipient of our Creator's talent.

That's also the foolishness of the created when they think it came from their own selves.

Adulation is a huge and mighty trap from which most don't escape, and when they fall in, they come out bruised and badly beaten.

Many powerful men become powerless overnight because of this innocent-looking, deceptive, seductive temptation, which lays them low and reveals them as mere mortals, with cardboard wings sprouting from the edges of their fifty-six-inch chests...!