“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Proverbs 27:6)
The truth hurts; especially when it exposes a fault in our life we don’t want to see. Our opinion of ourselves may not align with the reality of who we are. We can think more highly of ourselves than we should. We can believe we’re rich when we’re poor; seeing when we’re blind; clothed when we’re naked. And when we’re too proud to admit that we’re not as straight as we think, we don’t take too kindly to the person who points out our crookedness.
A friend will tell us what we need to hear, even if we don’t want to hear it. False friends do the opposite: they flatter us; they care more about us liking them than us being the people we should be in the sight of God. A true friend will speak the truth to us in love; they will risk their friendship with us, because they know our embrace of the truth is the only path on which we’ll find freedom and wholeness. The deceptions we hold must be confronted and overturned.
By speaking the truth you may lose relationship with someone dear to you. You may go years with them holding your words against you. But sowing the truth gives God opportunity to work beneath the surface. Bear the pain of alienation now, and pray that one day the one you loved will rediscover you as a dear, faithful friend.
“He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.” (Proverbs 28:23)