Making Sparks Fly

You should see the sparks fly when a knife is sharpened on an electric bench grinder! Maybe you have seen it before: when the knife touches the grinder, there is an ear-splitting sound of metal scraping and immediately a shower of sparks flies from the knife. It looks like an amazing fireworks display.
Why would anybody do something that sounds so awful and looks so frightening? The reason is because it must be done in order to sharpen the knife. Something that is hardened steel must go through a pretty traumatic process in order to become sharper and more useful.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” Here the writer likens sharpening a knife to a person sharpening the countenance of his friend. Have you ever noticed the effect your friends’ attitudes have on you? If they are happy, it’s not long before you start feeling more cheerful yourself. If they’re in a bad mood, pretty soon you are both grumpy.
We have a great influence on our friends, and they on us too. We must be especially careful about how we influence our friends: are we making them better? Are we encouraging them and building them up? That doesn’t necessarily mean we always say the things they want to hear. Sometimes it may mean we have to tell them hard things they don’t really want to hear. We may have to confront them. Sparks may fly. But if what we want is our friend’s best, then that is okay.
We may be fun people to hang around, but we may not sharpen our friends at all. We may dull them. We may simply waste their time. Maybe you have friends like that: you probably should get rid of them. You need to have and to be a friend who sharpens those around them, who builds them up, and who helps them to be more pleasing to Jesus Christ. Are you a good friend? How do you “sharpen” your friends?