Proverbs 27:12-18 — Do you trust that iron?

READ THIS: Proverbs 27:12-18

12 The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. 13 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider. 14 If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. 15 A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm; 16 restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand. 17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. 18 The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

People are interesting. It is hard to know when to trust whom. That being the case, it is important to think deeply about the people we decide to trust. If there are danger signs, then we should probably decide to trust them less (v12). When we don't know a person, we should be more guarded and take extra measure to make sure they are trustworthy (v13). But, as we get to know people more, we should be able to tell a few things about them, like if they say things to us just so that they look good (v14), if they are never satisfied no matter what you do to appease them (v15-16), and if they bear good or bad fruits that we would like to have or would like to avoid (v18). 

The people around us form us, as verse 17 points out, and, ideally, we want them to sharpen us to look more and more like Jesus. It's been said that each person is the average of the five people we hang out with the most. Do you trust the five people that you hang out with the most? Specifically, do you trust them to sharpen you into someone who looks like Jesus? Iron sharpening iron is kind of aggressive, and I don't imagine the iron is necessarily having the most fun all the time with all the sparks flying and such, but it is turning more and more into its ideal self with each sharpening strike!

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. Who do you trust? Should you trust them?

2. How have you been sharpened into someone who looks more like Jesus? How have you sharpened others?

TRY THIS:
 
Text that person you said you trusted in question 1 and ask them if you have helped them look more like Jesus. (Oooo scary....)

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