ARE YOU A TRUE FRIEND?

 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.  Proverbs 27:6 (NKJV)

Wouldn't you rather experience the "pain" that comes from a friend who loves you enough to tell you the truth (fully aware that the honesty may anger or hurt your feelings) than a person who tells you what they think you want to hear? Perhaps the best response would be to use the "pain" that may come from correction, accept the honesty,  own your mistake, and repent, then confront the truth as an opportunity to grow.  The motives of a true friend or fellow Believer are accountability and  love...for both God and you. 

An example of such a friendship can be seen the relationship between Jonathan and King David *(1 Samuel 18:3).   After King David lusted after, slept with and impregnated Bathsheba (11 Samuel 11:2-6), he arranged for her husband to be killed, then took her to be his wife (2 Samuel 11:14-15).  David knew that what he had done was wrong, or he would not have tried to cover it up.  He thought that he had gotten away with it.  But God, who is **omniscient, sent Jonathan to confront David & his sin.  David did not lash out at Jonathan in anger.  Instead, he confessed and repented, knowing full well that his choices/actions would still have consequences (2 Samuel 12:10-12).

If God sends a friend or fellow Believer to one of us, may we not "kill the messenger", but be prayerfully open to self examination, loving correction, accountabity, and re-aligning ourselves with God's destiny for our lives in Him.

Blessings.

~CWP~

*Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

**All knowing.  All wise.  All seeing.