Friendly Wounds or Deceitful Kisses? - November, 15th, 2011

⁶ Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Proverbs 27:5-6

History and Context:

King Solomon, son of King David, the wisest man who ever lived, wrote the majority of the proverbs in order to share his wisdom. Many of his proverbs have become common sayings in today's society and people don't even realize that they are from the Bible. Proverbs are one line nuggets of wisdom, therefore there is not really any context to consider as this line stands by itself. At the beginning of the book of Proverbs Solomon addresses his 'son' which have led many to believe that he wrote this book for his biological son, but it could also simply be a term for any younger man that happens to read the sayings.

The Text:

How might a friend wound you? If we look at verse five it talks about open rebuke, there are times when it is a friend's duty to rebuke a friend; at times this rebuke leaves a wound. But then there is the other kind of friend, the one who never rebukes you, never say anything but nice things, always comes with a 'kiss', but then once you're gone this friend talks bad about you. Solomon is saying it is better to be honest than to be fake, it is better to wound someone with the truth than to decieve them with fake kindness, fake love.

The Challenge:

The more time I spent outside the country, the more I realized how good we Americans are at fake kindness. In Germany if you do something wrong they will let you know, but in America if someone in the church does something wrong we hold a 'prayer meeting' and don't invite that person. We're good at acting as if nothing happened and continuing to be nice but then talking bad about them behind their back. We call them our friends but our kindness is really the deceitful kisses of an enemy. We need to be careful to be real with the people around us and speak the truth in love.

The Prayer:
Lord, help me to speak with wisdom. If rebuke is needed give me the words and more importantly the love for that person needed to do it in the right spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen!