Thursday: Friends Who Sharpen
Read: Proverbs 27:17, Proverbs 27:9
SOAP: Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron,
so a person sharpens his friend.
Devotion:
If you’ve ever cut your hand with a dull knife, you know how important it is for a tool to be sharp. A dull knife does not fulfill its intended purpose (cutting the right object with precision) and instead causes pain. Iron can be sharpened with another piece of iron. One tool that was functioning the way it was intended was used to take a dull tool and restore it to its rightful condition. This is what our friendships should do: restore each other to functioning the way we were intended.
Since the introduction of sin into the world, nothing has functioned the way it should, including humans. Instead of being oriented towards God, we have turned inward to ourselves. We are consumed in selfish destruction because we are not operating the way our Creator intended. Our friends can be instruments of God’s grace in our lives to restore us to our rightful condition. This happens when we kindly rebuke one another over sin in our lives, encourage one another, and help one other grow in our gifts.
Prayer:
God, thank You for the gift of friends! Help me cultivate the kind of relationships that sharpen me in my faith. Show me how I can be that kind of friend to the people in my life. Amen.