What is real love?

“Iron is sharpened by iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend”.    Prov. 27:17  Darby

The Bible teaches that love----real love----is iron sharpening iron.   It is a narrow, rough and uncomfortable journey.

Have you ever seen iron sharpened?    Sparks fly…..rough edges are broken away.  There are harsh noises as the iron hits iron.   It takes strength and accuracy to sharpen the tool.

But all of this is imperative…….isn’t it?

Christians like to say phrases like “Use me, Lord” or “Mold me, shape me, make me more like You”……but the honest ------Gospel truth is-----they do not want the “sparks to fly”.   They do not want anything broken away.  They do not like confrontation or noises of any kind.   They will even sacrifice accuracy and strength to spare themselves the pain.

Conflict is inevitable whenever a person goes beyond the “niceness” stage of hiding conflicting opinions and preferences.   As this happens, they will become a tool that sharpens the other without harming them.

The moment you have conflict, someone is going to get hurt.   There is no such thing as painless conflict.   When you go beyond “niceness”, you are going to hurt someone.   You cannot sharpen iron without striking it, making sparks fly, taking off shards, or making noise.

I believe in sharpening.   Conflict is a necessity and is important.   But the basic underlying mentality of some Christians is “love is warm fuzzy feelings”.  The act of sharpening iron and what is beyond “niceness” is NOT love.

Real love is iron sharpening iron!

We typically take on the actions and language of our environment.

“Anyone who walks with wise people grows wise.
But a companion of foolish people suffers harm”.  Prov. 13:20 NIRV

“Do not be so deceived and misled!  Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character”.  I Cor. 15:33 AMP

When we surround ourselves with other people who love Christ, there is the likelihood that you will become a better and stronger Christian!

If that environment is not good, let’s say “Iron and Paper”, the sharpening process cannot take place and we lose our passion for Jesus.

If we want to be sharp for Jesus and His Kingdom, then we must put ourselves in the position of being sharpened by Jesus and those HE puts in our lives.

When Christians are spending time with each other, there is an incredible sharpening that occurs.