Iron Sharpens Iron

Your Turn!

There are obvious benefits to being around friends who help prod us into becoming better people. However, as the phrase “iron sharpens iron” suggests, there should be mutual contributions to improving one another. In other words, our friends should benefit from being around us as much as we benefit being around them. So, it can be helpful to analyze whether this is true in your relationships. Does your influence improve others? If not, there are steps you can take to begin sharpening those around you:

Improve yourself—Strive to become a person of quality by developing your intellectual and spiritual capacity. This can be achieved by obtaining wisdom and understanding. A good place to start is in reading and living by the book of Proverbs, which has personal improvement as its stated purpose: “To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance” (Proverbs 1:2–5, ESV).

Set the right example—Knowledge is of little value if it does not improve your life. If you live by the wisdom you acquire, the positive example you set should automatically follow. People will naturally come to respect you as they see you are a person of upstanding character, not a hypocrite. Your example should stand as a testimony to how a positive, giving and serving person should act. Jesus Christ set the ultimate example by serving His disciples, whom He called friends: “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15, cf. John 15:15).

Love your neighbor—Humbly seek ways to help others, maintaining a genuine desire to see them succeed. Remember the “give and take” dimension of iron sharpening iron that encourages back-and-forth interaction through which each person benefits. If others discern that your motivation is to love and serve others, your opportunities for mutually satisfying relationships will increase due to the care for others you demonstrate. “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Philippians 2:3).

As many successful people have discovered, the quality of our closest personal relationships makes a tremendous difference in shaping who we are. We should be grateful when we are challenged by caring friends who polish away our rough edges, improve our minds and help us aspire to be our best. At the same time, we should strive to do the same for them. So, as an important part of your personal development, endeavor to fill your life with such iron-sharpening-iron relationships.

– See more at: http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/magazines/2016/march-april/iron-sharpens-iron#sthash.E1LKMv4q.dpuf

 

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