The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 27:17 (day six)

“God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together.

This has been true from the beginning, as we were made in God’s image. We were made to speak God’s Word, and therefore, we were made to receive his Word from one another. This also means that one of our greatest needs is to hear God’s Word from a brother or sister and for them to hear from us.

Let me ask you, of all the words you will speak today to your family, friend, or neighbor, how many will be God’s words?

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 27:17 (day five)  This week’s Re:Verse scripture is what I call a “coffee cup verse”.  Well known. Good advice. Truthful. Helpful. Short. Sweet. But there is so much we can unpack from this one verse. Necessity of relationships and community. Friction and tension needed to “sharpen” one another. I was struck this week that the two people or friends sharpening each other are both the same. Iron and Iron. When I think about process of sharpening knives, one is a steel blade and the other a natural stone. However, only the blade is sharpened. But the goal according to this scripture is for both to be “sharpeners and sharpenees”. Iron sharpening iron. We are born of the flesh. That certainly complicates things. But we also have the Holy Spirit. Interpersonal sharpening requires honesty, humility, listening, learning, loving. I think about Paul publicly confronting (sharpening) Peter in Galatians 2. We never see or hear about Peter rebelling against or rebuffing Paul’s correction. Instead, we see Peter writing about humility in his epistles. Only the Spirit living and working in each of us can help and cause iron to sharpen iron.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 27:17 (day four)

Never in my life have I seen friendship done better than in the FBCSA Single Adults Ministry. It became clear to me in my first week on staff – these folks take friendship as seriously as Scripture asks us to. They know that God designed for us to live in community and they make it a priority in their lives, even when it’s hard.

I was struck by this when I met them because so few people – both inside and outside of the church – place a high value on friendship. Throughout Scripture, it is clear that all people are called to live in relationship with others. For some of us that includes marriage or parenthood, but for all of us that includes friendship. Many of us, as C.S. Lewis says in The Four Loves, consider friendship to be “marginal; not a main course in life’s banquet; a diversion; something that fills up the chinks of one’s time.”

To view friendship this way is to completely ignore the irreplaceable role it has in our sanctification, our calling, and our understanding of God. Real, Biblical friendship keeps you walking through the narrow gate, it buoys your faith when doubt clouds your mind, it helps transform you into the likeness of Jesus. Regardless of what stage or station of life you’re in, you are in need of friendship in order to walk in the way of Jesus. How is the Spirit prompting you to grow in this way?

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 27:17 (day three)

“Iron sharpens iron,
So one man sharpens another.”

Nothing will replace one human life living together with another human life – longing, discovering, struggling, reaching, finding, revealing, hurting, repairing, nurturing, loving. Without this connection, a person will be injured, and might well die. Life with another is no luxury. It is as necessary as food and air. It is the way a human being develops. There could have been no substitute for a human Savior. God became flesh because we cannot find our way without the company of another human. God created you and me to exist as fully human only as we are in fellowship with other humans. It’s a mark of God’s image. You are not merely living better when you share life deeply with other people. It’s more profound than that. You cannot be fully yourself without such communion.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 27:17 (day two) Iron sharpens iron,
So one man sharpens another.

I came to the food preparation scene fairly late in the game. The nuances of how ingredients work together is still something I’m figuring out. If it is not in the recipe, it is not in the dish. To that end, it has taken me some time to appreciate the value of a good, sharp knife. Who knew that you shouldn’t have to saw a tomato when slicing? (Please don’t judge) I was recently given a sharpening set, and I’m slowly understanding the effort it takes to keep knives sharp. If the blade has gone dull, it takes a lot to bring it back to its useful state again.

There are times relationships can be like this. If we are not sharp, i.e. where God wants us to be, there can be a season of tough refinement to back in shape. We should long to remain in that state of usefulness to the Lord. If yo are being refined or sharpened by someone right now. Take a moment to be grateful. My knives aren’t bitter when I sharpen them. They don’t resent the tool that is being used. They are, however, much more useful when sharp, and so are you.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 23:17-18 (day seven)

Surely there is a future. Vs 18a

What does the sinner have that one might be envious of? Money, fame, perceived freedom. It’s a life that may appear easy or stress free to those looking on, but the truth of the matter is that the sinner is only living for today.

What should we have that the sinner would be envious of?

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

The word “future” found in both texts is the same word translated from the Hebrew אַחֲרִית.  God has so much more in store for us than wealth, fame or anything else the sinner’s life may convey. God has a plan and a purpose for each and every one of us for both this world and the one to come. When we walk with (in the fear of) the Lord, He gives us the very thing the sinner is looking for: hope.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 23:17-18 (day six)

Don’t let your heart envy sinners…Proverbs 23:17a (NET)

The most fertile soil on the planet is in our hearts. Whatever is sown there always bears fruit. This is why Solomon advises us to “Guard [your] hearts with all vigilance” (Prov. 4:23), why Paul warns us that “[We] reap what we sow” (Gal. 6:9), and Jesus declares, “The mouth speaks from what fills the heart.” (Matt. 12:34)

We can never leave our hearts unattended or take for granted what we sow. The good news, because our hearts are so fertile, when we sow to the Spirit we are guranteed to grow eternal fruit. So, be quick to respond to the Spirit’s conviction, receive his counsel, and employ his gifts.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 23:17-18 (day five)

Here it is again in our Re:Verse text this week- that phrase found throughout Proverbs, “Fear of the Lord”.  This phrase is commanded, encouraged, prescribed, and mentioned at least 18 times in the book of Proverbs. In these two verses, it is the prescription for envy. The fear of the Lord is the reverent obedience of His people or children. Notice the reference to a relationship. We find that relationship in the context of a covenant (both OT and NT). God rescues and calls, we trust and obey. The Fear of the Lord is our response to His initiative and character. It is the way to find hope, peace, and contentment. Anybody need that??

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 23:17-18 (day four)

Throughout Scripture, we receive the calling to live as pilgrims in this world, just passing through on our way to our eternal home with Christ. In Philippians we’re reminded that “our citizenship is in heaven.” In 1 Peter we’re reminded that we are “aliens and strangers” in this world.

But in the milieu of day to day life, it is easy to forget where our citizenship lies. Even though we’re “just passing through,” it’s a long journey. When we’re constantly surrounded by the things of this world, they begin to look appealing. We see those around us enjoying luxury, prestige, or the seeming happiness of living without restraint, granting themselves every fleshly craving.

But we’re reminded in Colossians that the things of the world that appeal to us are “mere shadows” of what is to come. Earthly goods are shadows, counterfeit versions of the true and complete good that is found in Christ. When we’re surrounded by the counterfeit, it’s easy to settle for that instead of the real thing. But our identity is in Christ and our citizenship is in heaven. Our God is the giver of every good gift, and offers us real joy, real fulfillment, real peace. He is the only real thing, and he offers himself to us in abundance.