The Bible says iron sharpens iron.
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17
I’ve seen a blacksmith take a piece of iron and heat it until it turns bright orange, then pound it with a tool to mold it and shape it into something usable, something better, something stronger.
I’ve taken a kitchen knife and swiped it across a stone to sharpen it.
Iron sharpens iron.
As Christians we are called to live in community and community can be hard. In community, your toes get stepped on, your feelings get hurt, and sometimes you get left out. But in the best instances you learn the importance of all the parts of the community.
Iron sharpens iron.
Living in community can sometimes feel like that kitchen knife scraping across that sharpener. Painful and irritating. I’ve heard it said that the most dangerous thing in your kitchen is a dull knife. Maybe the most dangerous person in your community has a dull spirit. The one who has become immune to pain, to insults, even to joy. The one who’s lost their passion. Has that ever been you?
Can I be brutally honest, raise my hand and admit that it has been me? In the weariness of raising kids, teaching tweens, keeping a house, and just life, I can begin to lose my spark. The dark circles that show up under my eyes between August and June become deeper and my shoulders begin to slump. I can be doing all the things that need to be done but more in a list checking, shew that’s over kinda way. And that’s not really how I want to live.
Early in Galatians, Paul (former killer of Christians) questions Peter (one of the original twelve, yet well known denier, of Christ), claiming he’s changing his behavior depending on who he’s around.
Galatians 2: 11-14 says:
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face (insert adolescent head nod here), because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”
Woah. He just called him out. Insert wide eyed emoji here.
Now if you know Paul’s conversion story it’s an amazing one, but to me it also explains that he hadn’t been a believer as long at Peter had been. Peter was one of the original disciples Jesus called. So not only did a longtime follower get called out, but he got called out by a newbie.
I’ve learned that everyone has a few people in her life that she can call out like that. If you’re lucky you’ve got a whole community of them that can call you out too.
Last week as I lay on the table at the doctor’s office waiting for a flu diagnosis (there was no sitting at this point, the minute my fever hit 102, I didn’t care where I was, I was lying down) I text my friend to tell her I was treating myself to a milkshake when I left because my throat felt like I had swallowed glass. My friend gently text me back, “what if you made a protein shake at home instead?” See, this friend knows that I have health goals and that I’m learning new ways to handle stress rather than milkshakes. Thanks to her, the only drive thru I hit up that day was the pharmacy.
Iron sharpens iron.
We need each other in this life. Jesus knew it would get messy and hard. He also knew we would be weak. He knew we would give in too soon and too often. So He gave us community. Community to celebrate with and mourn with. Community to learn from and challenge.
“A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12
When things get hard, it can be easy to complain to the Lord. Complain about the circumstance, complain about the people around us. Maybe if we saw those people more as sharpening blocks meant to make us better, to make us stronger, maybe then we would be thankful for them.
Who has He placed in your life that makes you better? Who are you sharpening for Him?
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