Faithful Wounds

 

 

True friends are like the proverbial virtuous woman, their “price is far above rubies.”  We will have many acquaintances in life but few true, close friends.  The old saying “a friend is someone who knows all about you, and loves you anyway” is a good place for us to begin the consideration of our text today.  Our friends may at times do or say things that wound us in order to correct our faults; yet they do or say them in love.  A true friend does not always tell us what we want to hear.  If we have behaved badly, spoken out of turn, or adopted a wrong attitude, they may speak in such a way as to wound our conscience.  They may even break off fellowship with us for a while because of what we have done.  Christ is the greatest Friend any of us have ever had, and He at times does exactly what I have been describing.

By contrast, an enemy will often tell you exactly what he knows you want to hear because he is setting you up for a humiliation.  His “kisses. . .” are “deceitful.”  Satan is the great enemy of our souls who uses flattery to gain his ends.  He has no love for us.  By contrast, what our true friends tell us, they tell us out of love for us.  They perceive that if we continue on in some folly that we will come to real grief.  They do not want us to come to harm so they risk our wrath to do us good.  No one else loves us more than Christ.  When He chastises us, smites our conscience, or hedges us about with adversity, He is actively demonstrating His love for us.  If we will bear the wounding of our friends with a right spirit, we will benefit by it.  Paul wounded his friends in Corinth in his first epistle to them, but the second epistle reveals that he rejoiced at the benefits his scolding had done in the lives of the saints.    So if we will bear with good response the wounding of Christ, we will become more conformed unto His image.  He has wounded you to heal you, hurt your pride to help your soul.  Be thankful for the faithful wounds of a friend; especially your Greatest Friend.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice