Proverbs 27:17 may be a familiar verse to you, but I thought it a fitting one to dwell on for a bit, as I see this blog developing in the direction the Lord wills.
"Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."
This verse has meant different things to me at different times. While I used to think of it as a call to fellowship in a general sense, I find it now to be much more specific than that, at least in my own walk. Here are some of my thoughts, in bullet form, take them for what they are worth to you:
--Iron sharpening iron creates a lot of sparks and makes a real spectacle to watch.
--Iron sharpening iron makes a lot of noise.
--Iron sharpening iron makes a strong smell.
--Iron sharpening iron makes the one doing the sharpening sweat and exert himself.
--Iron sharpening iron changes both tools into something new.
--The Hebrew for "countenance" is "Paniym" (paw-neem'). It means face or presence.
So...some questions:
--How do I want my presence to be sharpened?
--How willing would I be to let a friend sharpen me, knowing that it can very likely make a lot of sparks, noise, smell, and possibly even sting in the process?
--Since my best friend first and foremost is Jesus Christ, how willing am I to let Him do that to me?
--How willing am I to sharpen the countenance of my friends? Am I willing to do it in love, knowing that it could be received with pain?
That's a small list of thoughts that come to mind. I'm sure you could add or change them, and make the exercise even richer and more pleasing to the Lord! Great! Post a comment then, please.
Bottom line is that we all know that street evangelism is a sharp sword in the hands of the Lord. We on the Team submit to the Lord's work through us in using that sword to reach the lost. Among ourselves, I think this blog could very well be a sharpening tool, as well. As we submit posts to encourage and convict and share our hearts with one another (and anyone else happening to read them), let us continue to do so in love and affection, being courageous enough to sharpen one another, knowing that the process creates sparks and might even be painful in some way.
God bless you this coming week. I look forward to hitting the street again this weekend!
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2 comments:
This has really got me thinking. Good stuff. Back in biblical times, the iron workers couldn't get the furnaces hot enough to pour melted iron...only copper. So what they did was get it hot enough to bang out the slag (sin like in melting gold), and air bubbles. Then the wrought iron was then shaped and sharpened by continually banging on the hot iron, and sharpening it into tools like axes and knives. Like you said Maxx, it's tough to shape a piece of hard, useless iron into a useful tool like an axe or knife. It takes a great deal of heat (holy spirit), and work (banging of the one working it), and sweat to make a useful tool (a sharp disciple). Crafted to the masters use. Each piece was designed for a purpose. Axes for cutting trees, knives for precision cuts (medical or letter openers). You wouldn't use an axe to open up a piece of mail, and you wouldn't use a letter opener to cut down a tree. Pieces that are not useful, or became useful were thrown back into the fire to be molded with other pieces until they were useful. I can go all day meditating on this one. THANKS MAXX!! I feel a sermon in the mix. Praise the Lord.
Maxx...I never thought about this verse before, but I decided to meditate on it for a while. This is what the Holy Spirit revealed to my soul, and I checked it out with my Manners and Customs book about iron working.
Back in ancient days, a black smith would work iron ore into useful tools. He would take raw iron, and heat it up in a furnace to mold it into a spongy mass of iron. The furnace was not strong enough to melt the iron, just enough to make it plyable, even when using bellows (an instrument that forced air into the furnace to increase the heat).
Once the iron was removed from the furnace, it had to be pounded into wrought iron and have the slag and air bubbles beat out of it with a hammer. Then after the piece was beaten into a shape against an anvil by the smith, it was sharpened into a useful tool as an axe or knife.
Application
When we as men come from the ground as a lump of useless blob, we are then heated up by the fire of the Holy Spirit, and then molded and shaped by the maker or craftsman for His use. The combined heat and beatings work out the slag (sin) out of our lives, and then heated up by the fire of the Holy Spirit and beaten against the anvil (Word of God) until we are molded into the piece we are to be made (axe or knife). The anvil is never effected by the beatings and always retains it's shape. Thus the Word of God is not effected by us at all. Same with the fire of the Holy Spirit. It is not effected by the piece being molded. The only thing being effected is the piece of iron being molded.
God molds us through the fire of the Holy Spirit and the beatings of the Maker against the Word of God. Then we are made in the image of the tool we are supposed to be. An axe or letter opener. An axe is designed to cut trees down so it is blunt and heavy. A letter opener is used to make precision cuts to open up mail, so it will be small and light. You wouldn't use an axe to open up mail, and thus you wouldn't use a letter opener to cut down trees. Each tool is made with a purpose in mind. They are going to look different, feel different, and weigh different.
The next step is to then sharpen the piece to make it even more useful, and to help make it cut even better. They are sharpened together, or by a wetstone. Small pieces heat up and are blasted accross the room and removed, and then chiped away to give the tool a nice sharp edge.
So are we to be sharpened by one another, to help us be even more useful for the master. How much easier would it be for a sharp axe to cut a tree down. Much easier than a dull one. It takes less work when the tool is sharp. We need each other to sharpen our own usefullness, and help us sharpen our gifts to help us become the best tools for the Masters work. It's painful at times, and we feel like we've been made into sparks, and pieces of us ignite, and thrown accross the room. It hurts to be shapen, but it's profitable in the end. To help each other, and when we each do according to the gifts we are given, we work together in harmony with other tools to achieve a common goal.
But...axes and knives that became dull, unable to be sharpened again, or unable to be shaped were cast back into the fire and burned up, to be combined with other pieces that became useless. So are we as tools of God, when we become useless are cast into the fires to be consumed.
Thus, as iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
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