What a friend is meant to be

(Proverbs 27:17 MKJV) Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the face of his friend.

A few years ago I met a friend from school and many years before that both he and I graduated from high school, sigh. To my surprise the boy whom I once knew had matured and I sensed a hunger for the things of God in him, I guess in my mind he stayed the same all that time. I was delighted to see the change. Though the meeting was unexpected and of all places at the mall we both had other things to do but we talked for the better part of an hour as if that was our reason for being there. He asked me about Proverbs 27:17, I could tell it was something he put a lot of thought into prior to our encounter. It caught me off guard when he said iron doesn’t sharpen iron, as a matter of fact iron will dull iron. His point was well taken as I listened intently. At the time my only offering was that God’s Word was always true and full of purpose, if the purpose is not clear that doesn’t mean the purpose is not there or even incorrect but simply that we need His help understanding what was intended. That question wore on my mind for the next several days, eventually I forgot about it but God reminded me of it again this morning. Iron in the form of a sword was stronger than previous bronze swords. The iron sword could be made longer than before, required less maintenance, and stayed sharper longer but still in battle the sword became dull, especially when it hit another iron sword. Many times that seems to be what happens when two friends cannot agree. This is what confounded my friend that day and I could not deny the legitimacy of his question. What was missing was to follow that analogy through. If a sword becomes dull from battle what happens to it after the battle, before the next? The owner sharpens it! In the same way a wise person will listen to his friend, search his heart, and then go study – allowing the owner (God) to sharpen his understanding. The sharpening does not require being right either. The result is his life becomes better tuned to the Lord’s purpose, sharper and if he is truly wise this becoming sharper is not for the idea of being able to win the next disagreement but for the purpose of understanding God’s intent better so that he might make progress in becoming the person his Creator wants him to be!