| Proverbs 27:5-6 – “Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” |
Have you ever been hurt by the truth spoken from a friend’s lips? Truth that before that moment you knew but ignored? Truth that the Holy Spirit had tried to convict you about? Truth that you knew needed to be faced and addressed?
Sometimes God uses a friend to speak truth to us – even though it stings much more painfully than if it came from someone we didn’t know or didn’t care about. Sometimes they are the only one we will hear. Sometimes we have to be that friend. Sometimes we need to speak truth, even uncomfortable truth, to a friend who we want to be successful.
King David says it is oil upon his head to be reproved (reprimanded) in kindness. In the Bible, pouring oil on someone’s head signified prosperity, blessings, and stability. Oil had sanctifying (cleansing) properties. Whenever someone poured oil on someone or something, they had been set apart as blessed by the Lord.
Are you one of those people who will let your friend know she has broccoli in her teeth, or that he has toilet paper hanging on his shoe? I am that person, as many of you know – and I wish more folks would do this! We need to pay attention to our friends and speak truth to them. Even if our words cause a wound… We still need to speak the truth!
– Kimberly Schroeder
