Than love carefully concealed.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
--Proverbs 27:5-6
Chuck Smith wrote a short commentary on this passage in my Word For Today Bible:
"Faithful Wounds
"A person who is really your friend will tell you what you need to hear, even though it may be painful. The wounds that come from a friend are like the wounds of a surgeon; they are designed to heal.
"If your doctor does a biopsy on you and finds cancer, he knows that it will hurt you to learn you have cancer. I f surgery is required, he knows that will be painful, as well. But what kind of a doctor would allow you to continue to walk around with a disease that will kill you because he wants to spare you the pain of dealing with the sickness? You could sue him for malpractice.
"There are many things in our lives that if they are unheeded will destroy us. They call for radical surgery; and a true friend will point this out to you, even though they know they are risking hurting you in the process. The word of God is like a two-edged sword. It cuts us, but it is always cutting to heal rather than to destroy. 'Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.' "
Unfortunately, sometimes it will cost the friendship. But if following Christ meant only doing what you want to do, everybody would be a Christian. ("Then He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.' " --Luke 9:23)
If only it didn't have to come through me!
