The kiss

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE KISS

Prov 24:26

26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

NIV

Somewhat of a weird saying. But what is the truth in an honest answer being like a kiss on the lips? During the period we know as the Old Testament men would kiss, perhaps not on the lips, but on the cheek, as a sign of friendship and respect. We see this demonstrated in the life of Absalom, however this was not truly an honest answer.

2 Sam 15:1-6

15:1 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?" He would answer, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel." 3 Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." 4 And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice." 5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

NIV

He was deceiving and intended his kiss to steal the hearts of the Israelites from the existing king. However, here we also see that any deception is not like a kiss on the lips. We also see that a kiss on the lips does not mean an honest answer. That is to say just because someone tells us they are our friend, and respect us, they may not be giving us honesty. Conversely, just because we tell someone we are their friends does not mean we are kissing them on the lips with honestly. We could take another kiss as being anything but honesty. When Judas kissed Jesus, it was not an honest answer, but a deception of betrayal. When Judas approached Jesus he called him Rabbi or in the original language it is implied, my master. Jesus called him friend, but Judas was not being honest in calling him master. It was not a kiss of honesty. However to be honest carries that meaning of close friendship. There idea is all about honesty. How honest are we with those close to us? Do they know our deepest thoughts? Do we share our innermost temptations? Do we hold those back, not trusting their being honest in their love for us? It is not that we should stand before the church and admit every time we fail God, committing some sin, but should there not be honesty among the closest of friends? Just how honest can we be and still have those people as friends? If they shun us because of our failures, then they were never really a friend in the first place. If we shun someone because of their failures, their sin, then were we really friends. If they fail not only God, but what we consider failing us, then if we lose trust in them or no longer look to them as upright and Godly, perhaps we were never their friend anyway. But are we not all commanded to love one another? Then would not the definition of love as told to us in 1^st Corinthians 13 demand we first be honest, second never stop loving, trusting, hoping, defending, one another no matter what? Honesty has to be the best policy, at least with those we are so close with it would be as if we are kissing them. 

Just another thought completely different. How about an honest answer about the gospel. What can be sweeter to the lips then the truth? The truth of salvation is like a kiss, it is an intimate act of bringing someone to Jesus. What greater love can there be than to share God's free gift of eternal life. The truth, an honest answer that without Jesus a person is doomed to death, but with Jesus, life. Let is give them a kiss.