Iron Sharpens Iron

Proverbs 27:17 - "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

 

How does this play out in our lives?

 

It plays out as we rub shoulders with all kinds of people, the good and the not so good. We can be sharpened through good people who speak into our lives. We can be sharpened through people who irritate us, and who are not easy to love. We are sharpened by people who don't think like us, and may even oppose us. 

 

The idea here is that friction is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be a very good thing. Yet, we must not resist the master (God) who is using that very thing to refine us. We must not run from the friction, but embrace it. 

 

Now no one likes the process, but we must learn from the process. If we don't, we the blade will get all nicked up and dull. Then become ineffective or useless to the master. 

 

I find a problem among many Christians today. They don't want to fellowship with other Christians, especially those who don't believe or think like them. They don't want anyone to hold them accountable. They only want to be around people who are like minded, and easy to get a long with. This is one of the reasons many believers don't attend church or enter into fellowship with other believers. Also, it is one of the reasons why there is so many church defections. 

 

Now I am not opposed to us having fellowship with people who are like minded, and easy to love. Yet, if this is the only people we surround ourselves with, then we are not being honed to the sharpness that is most beneficial.

 

Thankfully, we can never avoid all those people who rub us the wrong way, no matter how hard we try.

Let us not go up here without your presence

Exodus 33:15 - Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

I love this verse. God told Moses and the people of Israel to go possess the promise land, and declared that He would not go with them because they were a stiff necked people. In response, Moses says, we need your presence. Moses understood the importance of God's presence. He understood that it was God's presence that distinguished the people of Israel from all the other nations.

In the same way, it is the Holy Spirit and His abiding presence in our lives that distinguishes us. We have an advantage over Moses, God's presence is always with us. Yet, we often don't give place to His presence (Holy Spirit). We need to cultivate the presence of God in our lives through prayer, meditation on God's Word, and fellowship with other believers.

It is not our outward appearance that distinguishes us, or our own righteousness that distinguishes. It is not even what we do. It is giving the presence of the Holy Spirit its rightful place. Yes, God's abiding presence will be seen through our actions. While any good action that does not come from the Holy Spirit workings will not distinguish us. It will fall flat because it is produced in the flesh and often hypocritical. Also, other will sense the presence of the Lord in your life, and see the genuineness of God's Holy Spirit in you. Those who are open to the things of God will be drawn to you, and those who are resistant will be repelled by you.

Exodus 34:29 - "When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord."
As we spend time with the Lord, we to will radiate His presence. People will see His glory even our face.