Key verse: Proverbs 27:5-6
5 Open rebuke is better than secret love. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Luke 22:48
Naturally, a kiss proceeds from a friend to another beloved. However, many are friends who carry in them great venom and pretend to love the one against whom they carry such venom. At times, in their pretense they greet the same with a kiss to deceive him completely. Conversely, genuine friends speak the truth in love to their beloved. It may be bitter at first when told, but it serves to prevent the beloved from danger when heeded. Before Jesus would name Judas the ministry’s treasurer, he must have been considered a trusted friend. But Judas had a ploy to reveal who Jesus was to His captors by a kiss. He must have assumed no one would suspect his intentions but nothing is hidden from God.
Nowadays we abstain from rebuking our friends because we do not want them to be crossed with us. Meanwhile, by not rebuking them, we leave them in the danger of judgment. Those who correct the fault of their friends with love are the children of God doing the will of God. To see a friend in error and pretend he did nothing wrong and that he may continue in his wrong deed is tantamount to an enemy’s kiss. Let’s stop praising and leading on people who engage in evil. Indeed, praise singing is nothing but a distraction. Howbeit that we sing the praises of thieves and urge them on to perdition? What shall we say to the Author of Life our part has been in the destruction of such soul? It is better to abstain than to applaud on a soul that is walking towards doom. It is best to call the same to order to forestall his plunging headlong into destruction. He may turn against you and affect your well-being? Let him. But the truth is constant. One day, the madness spurring him on will allow some reason and he will realize your open rebuke is a faithful wound that is better than all those that had been blowing him deceitful kisses.
The word of the Lord is settled. Everyone who knows the judgment of God that those who commit “such things” (sin) are worthy of death, not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them are given to vile affections and become abominable unto their God. Stop applauding evil. Rather reprove it with love and be God’s ambassador today.
Pray: Father, help me to be true to all always, not to render evil with a kiss or applause, but to be truthful in all my actions that I may gain you in the end in Jesus name.
Comentarios