Iron sharpening iron

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17
This proverb has made its way into secular vernacular, so it’s good for us to look at it in a Biblical light. The image is of a knife or a sword being sharpened. Think about it: to sharpen a blade, it must be ground against the sharpening stone or tool. There is pressure applied to it and a grating noise comes out, sometimes even sparks. But when the process is finished, the blade is no longer blunted and dull, but is sharp and effectual.
This is the picture of our interaction with fellow believers. In my life, I’ve seen two ways this sharpening works. The first is with a friend who’s not afraid to confront you. They’ll point out your error, applying pressure. It might sting for a time, but if you acknowledge that they have a point and do something about it, your life will be the better for it. Then at some point in the future, the roles might be reversed. Having a good Christian friend like this is valuable indeed.
But there’s another way that sharpening works among believers, and this one is more difficult to talk about. We all have people in churches with whom we just don’t get along. We see things completely different from them, and they from us. We struggle to see how we can be brother and sister in Christ because we are just so different. We may even have run-ins with them from time to time. The sparks begin to fly, and a grating noise emerges. But if we can take a step back and look at the bigger picture - what God is doing in our lives – we can learn from the situation. If we allow it to, we will be sharpened. We will learn things such as humility and how to defuse a heated situation. We will learn forgiveness, and how to Biblically ‘agree to disagree’.
Note that to sharpen a blade, it needs to be placed at the correct angle to the sharpener. If you place it straight on, you will only succeed in dulling it even more. So when we face those people whom we find difficult, remember that. Soften your approach towards them, consider that they may have a valid point. You will find that you’ve been sharpened – and you may have also been sharpening them.