Which would you prefer? Would you tell your dear friend the truth – or hope someone else does it?
It could be as simple as a zipper falling or as complex as a bad behavior pattern. Would you do the telling?
If you don’t tell them, do you really love them?
Open rebuke is better than secret love. (Prov 27:5)
Matthew Henry’s commentary of this passage reads:
The physician’s care is to cure the patient’s disease, not to please his palate
So it goes with love. Reveal, rather than conceal, truths to those you love.
On the other side, receive such words from one who loves you, knowing the intent. I wish I would’ve in so many cases of loving rebuke. While it may not have seemed so then, I am grateful to those who loved me so much to tell me the truth.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. (Prov 27:6)
Faithful are the wounds of a friend. With loving intent and risk, telling truths with love.