I have recently been reminded, by means of a new friendship and a longstanding one, that some friends really bring out the best in us, by their example and the understated challenge that accompanies such an example. At the same time, sadly, other people (even those close to us) come closer to being stumbling blocks via their negative example of nominalism and lukewarmness – an apparent ‘form of religion’ devoid of its true, transforming power.
The ‘iron sharpens iron’ kind of friends are people who still hold on to the belief, extreme as it might seem to the nominal, that all of life really is to be lived for the Lord’s glory, and that means (just as importantly) that all of life is to be shaped by Scripture. Such people are not at all content with the status quo, nor the Laodicean consensus that so easily forms over time, in the midst of a significant number of professing Christians.
For these people, the fact that a certain consensus has been reached among a majority of the professing people of God doesn’t really tell them very much – what matters to them is what the Word of God commands and calls us to (as best they can tell, including as they interact with other Biblically-directed believers).
I’m glad for their commitment and perspective. I need it. I’m glad that they speak up when they ought to. I hope they continue to do so – humbly, but persistently. And I hope that I profit from their example and exhortation…and that I have a helpful impact on them as well.
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