You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. ~Proverbs 27:17 (MSG)
Only someone who loves you, or someone who is angry with you will tell you the truth about yourself. God uses both opportunities for us to learn about ourselves, especially the honesty of friends and loved ones.
Joyce Myer in a devotional says “When someone can, in love, honestly show you how you can improve, the results will be so much more valuable than empty, ego-stroking compliments. It’s this kind of relationship that the Bible describes as ‘iron sharpening iron.’”
Sometimes I don’t want to hear the truth. Often the truth hurts. But I have learned to be thankful in this journey for friends who love me enough to not let me stay in places I don’t need to be. If I want to be on a road moving toward perfection I need all the direction that I can get, even when I don’t want to hear the truth. Part of living in relationships is that give and take of honesty and truth. I need to be willing to hear it. I need to be willing to give it.
Father in Heaven, help me remember the responsibilities of relationships. Sometimes it means hearing the truth when I rather not hear. Sometimes it is telling the truth when I would rather not see. Open my eyes and my ears. May I live in truth this day. Amen.
Pieces of the Puzzle 