LOVE IS NEVER BLIND

LOVE IS NEVER BLIND

"Better is open rebuke, than love that is hidden" Prov. 27:5

This is a Proverb which gives us pause, as it produces conflicting emotions. We do not really like rebuke. We are inherently inclined to resent it. The fact that we really deserve it, or need it, does not make it pleasant. On the other hand, we do desire to be loved, even though love does not express itself. Moreover, our dislike of rebuke leads us to think that those who love us serve us well when they are silent in the presence of our shortcomings. The word of true wisdom cuts clean across all such wrong and foolish thinking. Begin with the second part. Love that is hidden is not perfect love in either sense. The highest love must and does express itself. It does so in praise of the loved one. An approbation of a person which finds no expression to that person is selfish, and therefore much less than love at its highest. But it is equally true that the highest love will express itself in rebuke, when the object upon which it is set is acting unworthily. The motive of love's rebuke is always that of the highest good of the loved one. LOVE IS NEVER BLIND, in spite of the foolish adage which declares that it is. It has CLEAREST VISION, and sees soonest the thing which threatens to mar the beauty of the loved one. Then love is NEVER DUMB; it speaks truthfully and plainly; it rebukes openly. Such open rebuke is proof of love at its highest. Love that hides itself, professes not to see, perhaps does not see, and so remains silent, is love on a very low level. It lacks the elements which inspire the loved one to strive for highest excellence.