Pastor Jon Verwey

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. — Proverbs 27:5-6 (NIV)

Rebuking or wounding our friends is to challenge their sin, critique their attitudes, correct their inappropriate behavior, and point out their foolishness.

…an enemy multiplies kisses. — Proverbs 27:5-6 (NIV)

You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle. — Proverbs 27:22 (NLT)

If you grind a stupid person in a mortar… his stupidity will not depart from him.

Correction and critique from our friends are better than compliments and kisses from our enemies.

1 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. — Matthew 7:1 (NLT)

1 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. — Matthew 7:1-2 (NLT)

3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? — Matthew 7:2-5 (NLT)

5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. — Matthew 7:5 (NLT)

Correction and critique from our friends are better than compliments and kisses from our enemies.