Hidden Love
Proverbs 27:5
Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
Think of 5 people that you deeply love.
When was the last time you told them I love you?
As we unpack this parable, I want us to see that Solomon is speaking about much more than saying those 3 words, but it gets me thinking-
Do I show, share, and speak our love to those I love?
Living out love looks very different for each person, each generation, and each household. Some families say I love you to end every phone call while others may have never heard those words spoken. Some love bomb with encouragements while others naturally serve as the way they love. In fact, we often love others in the way that we want to be loved.
Solomon’s words are quite shocking as you consider them: Open rebuke is better than hidden love. As my wife reads this right now, I guarantee you she is thinking this is crazy as rebuke is her kryptonite!
What Solomon is revealing is that hidden love is of no use and even the harsh reality of open rebuke is better because it can lead us to correction. Hidden love helps no one.
I have heard many say that they don’t need to speak their love in words of encouragement or affirmation because their spouse, sibling, sons/daughters already know it. I disagree. Hiding our love is not helpful. Unwilling to show, share, or speak our love is not loving!
To whom are you failing to show your appreciation, encouragement, willingness to help?
What is one action today you can take to show your love?
Worse than wrath…
Proverbs 27:4
Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
If we were ranking sins from “big” to “small,” I think most of us would put wrath and anger above jealousy.
Wrath creates obvious consequences. Anger tears apart relationships. But jealousy? We often treat it as something minor.
Solomon does not.
He asks, “Who can stand before jealousy?”
Jealousy is dangerous because it often works quietly. We may never say anything out loud, but inside we begin comparing, resenting, and longing for what someone else has.
Hidden sin is still sin, and hidden sin can still do tremendous harm.
Jealousy creates dissatisfaction with what we have been given. It causes us to focus on someone else’s possessions, opportunities, relationships, success, appearance, or stage of life instead of receiving our own life with gratitude.
At its worst, jealousy becomes a complaint against God:
“What You have given me is not enough.”
Jealousy is not simply a personality trait or a harmless passing thought. Left unchecked, it can grow into resentment, bitterness, anger, and broken relationships.
Where is jealousy most likely to show up in your life?
At work?
In your neighborhood?
Your stage of life?
Your finances?
Your appearance?
Your family?
What is one area of jealousy you need to confront rather than quietly feed?
Tell Me How Great I Am!
Proverbs 27:2
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
Do you ever feel the urge to make sure people know what you have done?
Do you want to mention the good thing you accomplished? Do you subtly steer the conversation toward the problem you solved, the sacrifice you made, or the success you achieved?
I think we can all be guilty of wanting others to know what we have accomplished, completed, fixed, or achieved.
In a world where we often confuse who we are with what we do, our accomplishments can become the data we use to prove our worth.
I don’t simply work at a church—I am the pastor. Maybe you have your own version of that sentence.
Today’s Point: Stop praising yourself.
Solomon does not tell us to convince everyone that we are impressive. He tells us to live faithfully and allow our lives to speak for themselves.
As Christians, we are called to live in a manner pleasing to the Lord—loving our families, serving our neighbors, forgiving those who wrong us, and displaying the fruit of the Spirit through joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The Christian life should give life to others.
It serves instead of demanding to be served.
It forgives instead of keeping score.
It shows kindness even when kindness is not returned.
It works diligently and sacrifices willingly.
If that is the kind of life we live, we should not need to constantly tell people about it.
Second Point: Let another praise you.
Jesus never needed to market himself—his life did enough. As followers of his way, what does our life show?
So perhaps the question is not:
“Do people know what I have done?”
But:
“Would my life say anything worth praising if I never mentioned it myself?”
The Arrogance of Tomorrow
I thought I was done with devotions from Proverbs—and then I read chapter 27.
This week, we are going to uncover some incredible wisdom from this often-overlooked chapter. The opening verse is so good that its truth shows up again in the New Testament.
Proverbs 27:1 says:
Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.
The arrogance of tomorrow—we all have it.
We assume that what we have planned will happen just as we expect. We eagerly anticipate the upcoming concert, dread tomorrow’s commute, and worry about the pending procedure.
After all, we know what is going to happen tomorrow. It is already on the calendar!
James picks up this same idea in James 4. He exposes our tendency to assume not only when and where we will go, but how long we will stay and even what the outcome will be.
The problem is not planning.
The problem is planning as though we are in control.
Our plans rarely include car wrecks, medical diagnoses, traffic jams, unexpected phone calls, or sudden changes. When those things happen, we often respond, “This is not how it was supposed to go!”
But according to whose plan?
When we boast about tomorrow, we quietly assume a level of control and knowledge that we simply do not have.
God does.
The more we understand how powerful, knowledgeable, and good God is, the more we realize that our plans are paper-thin compared with His.
So make plans. Put things on the calendar. Prepare wisely.
Just hold those plans with open hands.
What plan are you gripping so tightly that you need to surrender it to God?
Where are you planning with certainty instead of planning with dependence?
Make the accusation look ridiculous!
1 Peter 2:12
12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God on the day of visitation.
Yesterday, we discovered some important things to keep in mind as we carry out the mission Peter gave us in verses 1–10, especially verses 9–10: remembering who Jesus is and the new identity He has given us.
If you missed yesterday’s devotional, please go back and read it. It provides important context for this verse.
We also saw how one of the ways we can do long-lasting or even irreparable damage to this mission is by refusing to fight the lusts of the flesh that wage war against our souls and try to pull us away from God.
Today, Peter gives us another warning about how we can damage the mission of sharing Christ with the world.
Peter says it in a lot of words, but the principle is one you’re familiar with:
Be above reproach.
Maintain conduct that is so pure and good that even when you are accused, not even the accuser really believes what they’re saying. That’s one way I like to think about it.
A few other important things to note from this verse:
It is inevitable that slander will happen.
If you are truly living for Jesus, that will upset people who are lost and given over to the ways of this world. You must be prepared for it.We cannot control what slander or attacks come our way. What we can control is our deeds.
So we must live lives filled with such good deeds that the slander and attacks against us seem silly, foolish, misguided, or misinformed.
When I say good deeds, I don’t mean massive acts like giving a billion dollars to charity. I mean consistent good deeds throughout our lives.
This is a hard lesson.
We want to fight back when wronged, slander others when our pride is wounded, and be unkind to those we feel haven’t earned our kindness.
But to do so is to directly damage the witness of the Church in the world.
Be honest:
Is the American church currently known for its good character and good deeds?
One last thing we absolutely cannot miss:
WHY do we do these good deeds?
It’s not merely to protect our reputation or even the Church’s reputation as a whole.
It’s not so we can self-righteously look down on our attackers and shake our fists at them.
We do these good deeds with the hope that when unbelievers see the consistent evidence of our character and good works, they will believe in God and be alongside us, glorifying Him when He returns—or when we join Him in Heaven, whichever comes first.
In the earliest church, soon after the apostles had passed away or been martyred, non-Christian writers attacked Christianity by accusing Christians of extremely vile and immoral practices.
They claimed that Christian agape love feasts were massive orgies. They claimed Christians ate the flesh and drank the blood of babies during the Lord’s Supper.
Absolutely brutal attacks.
But barely 100 years later, when a Roman named Celsus published one of the first extensive attacks on Christianity, guess what he picked on?
He accused Christians of ignorance, foolishness, superstition, and many other things.
But not even for a moment did he attack their character or their deeds.
Our ancestors in the faith lived out 1 Peter 2:12 so well that it didn’t even take 100 years to convince an entire society that, instead of ritualistic cannibals, they were kind, loving people who were some of the best citizens in the Empire—even though they had “crazy” religious beliefs.
That is what can happen when the Church acts like the Church of Christ.
Let us be a part of that work now in our society instead of simply being upset with how our society views the Church.