IRON SHARPENS IRON

 

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

 

IRON SHARPENS IRON

 

Prov 27:17

17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

 

          My best friends are the ones who make me better. They challenge me to think or to re-think my settled opinions. They add the honing oil of true friendship as they grind away the roughness in me.

 

          Sometimes it seems they are removing too much and too roughly. I am left with gouges in my edge. I am challenged to delve more deeply into myself, and I often conclude that, after some more smoothing, I will be sharper still.

 

          The most bitter chunks that spark away are the ones that require me to say “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me.” However, with that removed, I am able to do a better work longer and stronger. Few things hinder productivity more than unconfessed and unforgiven wrong.

 

          It is in friendship that we get to know ourselves, as a man sees his face in the mirror of calm water, Prov 27:19. We unfold to each other; our friend elicits traits of which we were hardly aware. Our sympathy and tenderness are drawn forth by our friend’s troubles, as our laughter flashes out to awaken or to answer his high spirits. We shudder to think what cold and undeveloped beings we should be without the sharpening of friendship.

(From Through the Bible, by F. B. Meyer, Biblesoft formatted electronic database Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

 

Lord, while I can, let me have a useful edge but if I can not have an edge then let me be a stone. AMEN