Making Sparks Fly

“Iron sharpeneth iron;
so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” (Prov 27:17).

You should see the sparks fly when a knife is sharpened on an electric bench grinder! When the knife touches the grinder, there is an ear-splitting sound of scraping metal and sparks shower from the knife. Why would anybody do something that sounds so awful and looks so frightening? A hardened steel knife must go through a pretty traumatic process to become sharper and more useful.
In this proverb 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?