As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

Yesterday, we spoke a little bit about being one’s own god and how our human nature is that we like to be in charge of our own lives. One way this manifests itself is that we do not like being told what to do, especially with our own lives. We do not like being told how we can improve, even when we have glaring faults. Here’s a challenging question for you: how do you respond when others try and correct you? Are you dismissing? Defensive? Annoyed? Feel disrespected and that it’s none of their own business?

The only correct way to respond is to allow them to correct and sharpen us. We ought to listen openly and prayerfully and appreciate that whether they are correct or not, they are being used by God to sharpen us and make us better people. We need to value each other and the input that we bring. According to Biblical analogy, if I am a piece of iron and you are a piece of iron, then part of our job is to sharpen each other.

And here’s the thing about one piece of iron sharpening another – it hurts. There’s friction involved and even heat generated. It’s never a comfortable operation for either of the pieces of iron, but in the end it makes them both sharper. Accountability is a God-given gift to us. I must say though that it is one that produces best results when you are making yourself accountable rather than everybody needing to keep you accountable all the time. See accountability as your responsibility and you will see growth that leads to maturity. Let us sharpen one another. It is biblical!

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