Proverbs 24:26

New International Version (NIV)

An honest answer
is like a kiss on the lips.

For Meditation

I remember the day her lips touched mine for the first time. Everything stopped around me. I was transfixed and translated into heaven. The serenity! “Lord, don’t let me come down to earth again.” The woman I loved had played hard ball, but I never gave up. I remember the day I ran all over the corridors of Akuafo Hall at the University of Ghana, shouting on top of my voice, “I love her. Somebody help me to win her heart.” Then, the moment came and reality met me in the most welcome way, when I received the first kiss from my long desired Eva Boaitey. And it went on to change her name too – Mrs. Akosua Owusu-Baafi, my beloved wife for thirty seven years. Through those wonderful years, she has refreshed me with her honesty. I don’t know where I would be without this touch of heaven. It’s as warm and welcome as the day she first kissed me on the lips; and I have since, really loved her. So you see why I understand these words from the wisdom book called Proverbs: “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips” (Prov. 24:26)?

God never ceases to amaze me. How, in His infinite holiness, He chose to relate honesty to “a kiss on the lips” is beyond me. But the ultimate Illustrator that He is, He makes His point very well. As John MacArthur comments, “A just and righteous response is as desirable as this most intimate expression of friendship.” The person who looks you straight in the eyes and lovingly tells it as it is, refreshes your soul and saves your life, and must be desired as a kiss on your lips by a loved one.

I have been around quite a bit, yet I have never seen a person who desires lies and deception. Only the devil loves them, for “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44). Listen through Proverbs 24: 24-25 on this:  “Whoever says to the guilty, ‘You are innocent,’ will be cursed by peoples. But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.”

1. Are you honest with your responses?
2. How about your opinions?
3. And your stories?
4. How about your confession of faith?
5. Have you kissed God on the lips?

I pray it’s a “yes” throughout.

So: May you be refreshed today by the honesty of a friend; and may you also refresh someone who needs your straight and honest opinion, couched in wisdom and love.

Remember: “Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks what is right” (Prov. 16:13). And there is no king who takes much pleasure in honest lips than the King of kings and Lord of lords – Jesus Christ our Lord. To Him be glory forever, amen!

Shalom