IRON SHARPENS IRON
Chad Sloan
Today’s Scripture: “Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 (ESV)
Theme: God puts us in relationships to rub off the rough edges and hone us into the people He has created us to be.
UNEXPECTED INVITE
Did you know that it’s the people closest to you who have the best opportunity to speak into your life? It might seem intuitive that they have the opportunity to encourage, admonish, affirm, and challenge you, but sometimes we overlook the power of relational passport.
In my late twenties, I was living a precarious lifestyle. Although I knew Jesus, I wasn’t following Him closely. Instead, I was choosing to live a dangerous and depraved lifestyle. One night I was invited to meet up with my best friend for dinner at Applebee’s in Mooresville. The night started normally: we ordered a beer, a meal, toasted each other, and began to chat. Shortly into the conversation, my friend looked at me and said, “Brother, I need to talk to you about something important…!”
My best friend proceeded to lovingly admonish me for drinking and driving. It was a dangerous habit that I had started in college, and it had only gotten worse since then. While I listened to his advice, I was also silently defensive, embarrassed, and angry. The whole time he was talking, I was thinking, “Who is he to talk to me about that? I remember when he did the same thing.” His words came across as judgmental and I took it personally.
JUDGEMENT TO CONVICTION
Yet even though I was defensive, God still used my friend’s words. That very night, I decided to change my life. My friend’s admonishment turned into spiritual conviction, and I realized how I had not only been endangering myself, but most importantly, I had been endangering the lives of others. I also realized that I had begun a cycle of binge drinking in my life and it had become a problem. It was that very night, because of one conversation with a friend who cared and who had personal passport with me, that God started leading me through a transformation of my entire personal and spiritual life.
FRIENDSHIPS CHANGE LIVES
Throughout the Bible, we see so many examples of healthy friendships which strengthened and stretched both individuals involved in community. King David’s friendship with Jonathan saved David’s life and was a blessing to Jonathan’s descendants. The Apostle Paul poured into Timothy and trained him; and Timothy then supported Paul and carried on his ministry even after his death. Aaron spoke for Moses and assisted him with his speech issues and Moses spoke truth into Aaron’s life and help him turn back to God after many bad and sinful decisions. Even Jesus surrounded Himself with a group of friends who He could pour into. Those men also assisted Him in His ministry. If Jesus desired friendship relationships, then how much more should we pursue them and invest in them for ourselves?
Make It Personal: Who do you have in your life who you are close enough with that they can speak into your life? Who do you have the relational passport with that you could speak into their lives? Ideally, we all have friends in our lives who love Jesus, love the church, and love us deeply (and in that order). Those are the kinds of relationships that we can make in Life Groups, while serving together on a Serving Team, or at Celebrate Recovery. You and I need like-minded iron-on-iron men or women in our lives who are willing to challenge and encourage us to be the people that God has created us to be!
Pray: Jesus, help me to be open to other Jesus followers who are speaking into my life. Please surround me with like-minded friends who I can encourage and who will encourage me. Use me to speak truth and encouragement and use me to challenge my friends to help them grow in their walk with you. Help me, Lord, to be open to instruction and not defensive or critical of those You bring into my life to challenge me and help me grow. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Read: Colossians 3:16-17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Zechariah 8:16
Weekly Memory Verse: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2, ESV