MONDAY, JUNE 3
“Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.”
Proverbs 27:6 ESV
THE SKILL OF CONFRONTATION
As a kid some of my (Larry) worst memories were going to family reunions or traveling back to our birth home in St. Louis, MO for holidays with extended family. I grew up in Florida and rarely was around our extended family in St. Louis. So as a kid it just felt like being in a room filled with a lot of loud strangers talking about how tall I had gotten. That was all bearable but perhaps the worst part was the unwelcomed kiss on the cheek from the aunt with a mustache.
Some kisses are just unwelcomed. Proverbs 27:6 calls one of those “kisses from an enemy.” Dictionary.com defines a “kiss of death” as, “An action or relationship that is ultimately ruinous. For example, some regard a royal divorce as a kiss of death to the monarchy. This term alludes to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot, who kissed him as a way of identifying him to the soldiers who came to arrest him (Matthew 26: 47–49).” Enemies want us to think everything is okay when everything is not okay. Enemies want to see us suffer.
Proverbs 27:6 teaches that it’s better to have a friend who loves you enough to share something that might temporarily wound you if it’s done for your good. We don’t do each other any good when we fail to warn each other about potential danger for the sake of being liked. That means sometimes healthy conflict is part of a healthy relationship. Mike reminded us Sunday that it’s impossible to avoid conflict. So it is for our benefit that we learn how to have healthy God-honoring conflict. This week we will review some of the lessons Mike shared on the skill of confrontation.
Can you recall someone who acted nice to your face but behind your back was hurting you? Can you recall a friend who loved you enough to share something about you that you needed to hear but was difficult to hear? The friend who loved you enough to share something difficult was a gift from God. Ask God to help you be that type of friend and be open to those types of friends.
