As iron sharpens iron

Have you ever seen a diamond in the rough? You wouldn’t recognize it as a diamond. It’s cloudy and, well, rough. There are no smooth, lustrous facets. It doesn’t look like it has value.

There is a diamond inside each one of us, but just like a real jewel, it takes shaping to bring out the beauty. Unfortunately, that shaping comes with some discomfort. A jeweler has to hack off the rough parts to expose the smooth facets, and that’s what God has to do to us.

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of this friend. (Prv 27:17)  God will use those around us to shape us into the beauty that is inside, waiting to be revealed. Does it feel nice to be shaped like that? No, it doesn’t. But if we do not take offense at what God is doing in us, we become a shining light to a dark world.

Allow God to make those precision cuts to lift away what is ungodly. Every time you are offended, ask Him to show you what He is doing. Submit it to Him and confess the offense so He can take it out. You’ll be left cleaner, brighter. Look for the treasure in those around you. It’s in there, just as it’s in you.