I want to welcome you to IronStrikingIron.com and my very first blog post. Since this is my first blog I want to take this opportunity to reveal the reason and the message behind the name of the site. It sounds a little manly – ok really manly – and that is by design. The theme verse of this blog is Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.” This very verse is packed full of so much truth that a good pastor could spend several weeks preaching on it. We won’t spend that much time on it.
When I decided to begin a blog, I realized I had no idea really what a blog was, how to set it up, how it worked, I was clueless. So I did a little bit of research and with today’s technology and how-tos it is pretty easy to educate yourself. You can get anything up and running, and when you know the right people, it makes it even faster when you have questions or need to bounce ideas off of someone. My biggest challenge was coming up with a good name that was easy to remember, not too long, and encompassed what I wanted to share.
The same thing that makes it so easy to start a blog also makes it hard to stand out because, everyone has one. I had brainstormed over the course of three days and came up with a list of 100 names. Friends and family voted for their favorites and there was a clear winner, but it was taken. So then I looked to the next one, that was taken, then the next, it was take, the next, it was gone. So on and so forth. All of the good names that I had originally wanted were taken, at least the ones that I could be happy with.
About a year ago during a monthly men’s meeting at my church a discussion of Proverbs 27:17 came up. It was being quoted and even became a challenge not just during each of the monthly meetings, but throughout the month. The NASB translation along with many other English translations use the word sharpens, but I want to replace that word – in all humility and respect to the authority of Scripture – and replace it with the word striking. (As a note to the previous sentence, I am not advocating changing the wording in the Bible, God in His inerrancy placed the word sharpens there and I am NOT challenging that. I am, for illustrational purposes only, using striking to understand the text in its fuller context.)
So now that we are using the word striking, let’s see what these two different words mean. When we see the word sharpen, we think of sharpening a knife. The act of sharpening shaves off small bits of the blade only when the knife becomes dull. Sharpening is done infrequently and there is little effort involved from the sharpener or the knife.
However, the word “striking” brings to mind an image of a blacksmith striking a piece of iron over and over again. By using available tools, he strikes the chunk of metal, heats it up, and then strikes it again. Over time and working it over and over until the impurities are “beaten” out, it is molded into a tool ready to be put into use.
The point is that we are not to be merely a whetting stone for one another, but we are to be an anvil and a hammer to one another. Obviously, we should not bash each other with ridicule and condemnation, but we should not be timid about seeking to spur each other on to love and good deeds (spur also can be translated as to provoke, or agitate.) Because I want this blog to be a resource for men, especially men who seek to be godly, the name needed to first be based in Scripture, but also be targeted to, well, men.
What would that even look like to be striking one another? Simply put, we are to be continually engaged in theological and intellectual conversations. This means we should be challenging one another in our thinking, our behavior, and our habits. We need to be reading, whether as a group or individually, both Scripture and books, digesting all this information and sharing it.
God will reveal the understanding of Scripture to anyone He wants to through the Holy Spirit, but just because someone reads the Bible does not mean they know the truth of it. Look at the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, they knew the Law and had much of it memorized. They knew Scripture, but they didn’t understand it. This is because they did not want to be sharpened. They were not humbled; they were not “coachable.”
So how are we to coach one another? 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” We are to be trained in the Scriptures, we are to know the stories and the lessons, and we are to understand the Old Testament Law, but not live under it. That law was fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We are to reprove one another when we sin. And when we sin (because we will on this side of glory) we are to use Scripture for correction.
We are also to love one another just as Christ commanded in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” And how much did He love us? Christ did teach, train, exhort, correct, and reprove His disciples, His brothers, as we are. But He did so in love with the ultimate goal to prepare them for service of the Father and to bring Him glory, no matter what it brought them.
That is the heart attitude that we must have; we must be in constant preparation for service and in service for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For He will return one day, we don’t know when, it could be this very moment, it could be sometime this night, or not, we just don’t know. We have been warned many times to be on guard. The only way that I know to be on guard is to be on the offensive. To be moving forward towards the Lord in my understanding, in my knowledge, in my service, in my love, and I want to bring as many of you along with me as I can.
I pray that you find this a blessing and an encouragement to you and look forward to posting more. God Bless.
Iron Striking Iron 