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Proverbs 24:26 · World English Bible

Proverbs 24:26 Meaning An Honest Answer Is Like a Kiss

An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

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What does Proverbs 24:26 mean?

There is a gladness that meets truth wherever it is spoken, and the kiss is the mind's recognition of its own release. When one mind offers the right answer, which is always some form of seeing the other as innocent, it does not so much instruct as remind the listener of what was already true in them.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 24:26 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

There is a gladness that meets truth wherever it is spoken, and the kiss is the mind's recognition of its own release. When one mind offers the right answer, which is always some form of seeing the other as innocent, it does not so much instruct as remind the listener of what was already true in them.

A right answer never accuses. It lifts the weight of guilt from the one who hears it and shows them a face without blame. This is why it is met with such tenderness, because to be told you are innocent is to be handed back to yourself.

Lips: the meeting place where truth passes between minds, the closeness with which love is recognized and received. He that giveth a right answer: the mind that speaks for love, offering the recognition of innocence that releases the one who hears it.

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 24:26 today

  1. Send one message today that tells someone, in plain words, that you do not hold the thing against them anymore. No conditions attached.
  2. When someone admits a mistake to you, answer first with warmth instead of correction. Let them hear that nothing between you got broken.
  3. In a tense exchange, give the person a way out that does not cost them their dignity. You can be clear about the problem and still hand them back their footing.

Who needs to hear from me that they are not the worst thing they have done?

The same truth in other traditions

Sufism · Rumi

A kind word has the power of a key, opening a person back into themselves. Speak so the one listening feels larger, not smaller.

Buddhism · right speech

Speak what is true, kind, and useful, at the moment it can actually be received. Words like that set people down gently instead of pinning them.

Judaism · Pirkei Avot

Receive every person with a bright face. The welcome itself is the gift, before anything else is said.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

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