Walking with the Wise #513: Staying Sharp

“Iron sharpens iron,


and one man sharpens another.”
—Proverbs 27:17

When I was in sixth grade, I got second place in the 800 meter state track meet. So when I came back as a seventh grader, I was extremely confident. At our first track practice (which consisted of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders), I stepped onto the track to warm up with the other runners. Believing that I was another year older and better, I thought nobody could beat me—not even the older kids. I often ran my warm-ups as a race, wanting to beat my fellow runners (as well as impress any girls who may have been watching!) and assert my dominance. Extremely cocky, I started to prance around the track with great speed, keeping very alert to the possible sound of footsteps behind me so that I might speed up if necessary.

Coasting around the track, thinking that I was way ahead of my classmates, I suddenly heard footsteps quickly approaching. I sped up, but the steps were gaining ground. I kept going, but eventually the steps quickened and out of the corner of my eye I saw the new kid at school, who was a year older than I, passing me by. I couldn’t believe it. I tried to catch him, but I couldn’t. He was just too fast. After the race, the new kid found a new popularity, while I had to endure tremendous teasing.

Suddenly, I didn’t know what to do, or what to think. How could this guy beat me? After all, I had placed second at state, and he didn’t. I thought that I just needed to get into a little better shape and then I would show him who was best. As the year progressed, I trained hard, and so did he. Since he was a year older, we competed in different heats during meets, but in practice, we went head to head—and he always won, no matter how much or how hard I trained.

In fact, as we had track meets throughout the year, I noticed that our competitions in practice were paying off. I would run with the seventh graders, and blow them out of the water, breaking our school record in the process. Notwithstanding, in the next heat of eighth graders, he would blow everybody else out of the water, and the record (our school record didn’t differentiate between sixth, seventh, or eight graders, but the state records did). I would have held it for a total of 5 to 10 minutes. It was infuriating, losing to him again and again, breaking the record and then having him break just moments later the one I had just set.

When it came time for the state track meet, we both qualified for our grades. And remarkably, we both won. In fact, I set the state record in the process for seventh graders in the 800 meter! And that never would have happened had we not trained together. I only won because of him pushing me every single day.

This is why, by the way, when the Chicago Marathon is run, intermittently throughout the race, “rabbits” appear—individuals who are fresh and come out in front of the leaders, so that the leaders will push themselves to go faster. We need that type of push here, rabbits and runners who will run the race, pushing other believers to go faster, longer, and deeper in their walk with Jesus Christ.

Who is pushing or sharpening you to become better spiritually? Who is challenging you to walk deeper with Jesus—to go deeper in prayer, to give sacrificially, to surrender unconditionally, and to serve wholeheartedly? As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. We all need to be sharpened, again and again, because we are constantly in danger of being blunted with continual use.

Ask the Lord to sharpen you, to send someone into your life who will challenge you and grow you to be of greater use in the Master’s hand. Amen.