Friends Stab You in the Front

Proverbs 27:5-6 Open criticism is better than hidden love. You can trust what your friend says, even when it hurts. But your enemies want to hurt you, even when they act nice.

None of us likes criticism. We just don’t. And yet, the criticism of a true friend is one of the greatest gifts we can ever receive, even if it doesn’t quite feel like it at the time.

There’s an old adage that whilst enemies will stab you in the back (and we’ve all been there!), a true friend will stab you in the front. That piece of wisdom always brings a smile to my face, because as I look back on my life, it’s some of the direct criticisms that I’ve received from friends that have helped me become the person I am today.

After all, if you trust someone, if they’ve been loyal and they’ve stuck by you and they’ve served you well, they have a license – don’t they – to be direct. It’s a good thing to have trusted advisors in your life to point out the things we can’t see for ourselves.

Proverbs 27:5-6 Open criticism is better than hidden love. You can trust what your friend says, even when it hurts. But your enemies want to hurt you, even when they act nice.

Here’s the mistake we like to make. We want to pull up next to the people who flatter us, even if in our heart of hearts, we know those people are our enemies. And the true friends, the ones who really care for us enough to point out our faults, or to warn us that we’re headed in the wrong direction, they’re the ones we want to push away. It’s true, isn’t it?

So wise up! None of us likes criticism. We just don’t. And yet, the criticism of a true friend is one of the greatest gifts we can ever receive, even if it doesn’t quite feel like it at the time.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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