THE SHARPENING STONE
03/09/13 11:37
Proverbs 27:17
“As iron sharpens iron,So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
I had the privilege of taking a week long survival course in the deserts of Utah. While out there, I learned some of the more primitive arts of survival, fire with bow-drill, finding water in the desert, how to carry necessities without a backpack; basically, surviving with the bare minimum and no luxuries. One skill we looked at was making cutting tools from stone.
When making a cutting tool from stone, one must find a stone that is capable of being broken correctly. Then one of three tasks can be taken in order to sharpen the stone: rock bash, bi-polar percussion, or percussion flaking. To make a long story short, by either slamming the prospective stone on another stone, or by taking a stone (called a hammer stone) and striking the prospective stone, flakes will break off and create a sharper edge.
In the analogy in Proverbs, of iron sharpening iron, the concept is the same. If one was to sharpen their blade over a white piece of paper, when you sharpen the blade (whether with a sharpening stone or with another piece if iron), you will notice dust appear on the paper. Some of this dust is from the sharpening implement, some is from the blade itself.
The biggest problem with Christianity today is denominations; then the people within them. Denominations are a division of the church, and create an infighting within the body of Christ: this can’t be, and be the body of Christ. We learn religious belief’s and doctrine, we set ourselves, like iron or stone, and refuse to be allowed to be sharpened: we are afraid of loosing something we think is important.
The most unimportant piece of the stone or blade, is the part that makes it dull, this needs to be removed. If we want to be sharpened, we must be willing to be a stone or blade willing to be worked with; we then need to allow the dull pieces to be broken away.
The way I have worked to accomplish this, was first understanding that while I looked at all other denominations as being wrong, I come to the fact that I was wrong as well. I would then take a subject of discussion and do DEEP research on the subject: Bible, Strongs, History, Linguistic study, etc.
Hebrews 11:6
“He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”
“As iron sharpens iron,So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
I had the privilege of taking a week long survival course in the deserts of Utah. While out there, I learned some of the more primitive arts of survival, fire with bow-drill, finding water in the desert, how to carry necessities without a backpack; basically, surviving with the bare minimum and no luxuries. One skill we looked at was making cutting tools from stone.
When making a cutting tool from stone, one must find a stone that is capable of being broken correctly. Then one of three tasks can be taken in order to sharpen the stone: rock bash, bi-polar percussion, or percussion flaking. To make a long story short, by either slamming the prospective stone on another stone, or by taking a stone (called a hammer stone) and striking the prospective stone, flakes will break off and create a sharper edge.
In the analogy in Proverbs, of iron sharpening iron, the concept is the same. If one was to sharpen their blade over a white piece of paper, when you sharpen the blade (whether with a sharpening stone or with another piece if iron), you will notice dust appear on the paper. Some of this dust is from the sharpening implement, some is from the blade itself.
The biggest problem with Christianity today is denominations; then the people within them. Denominations are a division of the church, and create an infighting within the body of Christ: this can’t be, and be the body of Christ. We learn religious belief’s and doctrine, we set ourselves, like iron or stone, and refuse to be allowed to be sharpened: we are afraid of loosing something we think is important.
The most unimportant piece of the stone or blade, is the part that makes it dull, this needs to be removed. If we want to be sharpened, we must be willing to be a stone or blade willing to be worked with; we then need to allow the dull pieces to be broken away.
The way I have worked to accomplish this, was first understanding that while I looked at all other denominations as being wrong, I come to the fact that I was wrong as well. I would then take a subject of discussion and do DEEP research on the subject: Bible, Strongs, History, Linguistic study, etc.
Hebrews 11:6
“He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”
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