Proverbs 27:17 (MSG)
“You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.”
Our friendships matter. We often become like the people we hang around with most. If we’re hanging around good people who are serving the Lord and on different parts of the same path that we are on, we are encouraged in our walk with Christ. These people are like steel sharpening us. Those who are ahead of us on the journey encourage us to pick up the pace and keep growing in the Lord. Those who are a bit behind us on the journey give us the opportunity to sharpen them by being the ones encouraging them to keep on keeping on. That’s the way God intended for us to walk.
Jesus said to go and make disciples of all nations. When you are a follower of Jesus, you are His disciple. That means you are following His teachings in your life. You’re trying to walk in His footsteps, but you are also called to make disciples. That means you’re supposed to be leading others and teaching them how to follow in Christ’s footsteps as well. We’re all walking the straight and narrow path. Sometimes that path goes around huge obstacles in our lives. When that happens, it helps to have a person further up the road who can reach back, grab your hand, and help to guide you to make sure you keep a sure footing on the path and don’t stumble and fall.
So what kinds of friends are you keeping around you? Are they friends that sharpen you and challenge you to grow in the Lord? Or are they comfort friends who make you feel good but aren’t necessarily good for you?
Father, I thank you that you had a plan for us to walk life’s hard road. You intended for us to work together, bringing others along with us, so that none of us would fall. I thank you for my godly friends. I thank you that they are there to encourage me to grow. Father, help me to find more godly friends to encourage me along life’s road, and help me to be a godly friend to others. I want to sharpen them the same way I am being sharpened. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
A Beautiful Mess 