"Iron shapeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of a friend. " Proverbs 27:17
I could not find a royalty free image of this verse, but they all contained an anvil, a piece of iron heated red hot and a hammer. None of the images showed anything smooth and easy like massage therapy.
I have a friend, that is like a brother, who from time to time would point out where he thought I was stupid or wrong and I received it because he was my friend. Since he was from TN, he did it differently than someone from NYC. He was often a polisher, but could hammer me when needed.
My drill sergeant was more of a hammer. Indeed, he could get fired up and that heat was transferred to us and we got sharper or got more of the hammer. We had some hard cases in my outfit. They required a lot of heat and hammer. One had to be sent to a retraining unit and eventually was discharged.
Sadly, I have read where we are entering a new season for recruit training that I fear will create a weaker troop and eventually a statistic on the battlefield or after discharge. Better to find out a troop cannot deal with stress where he cannot get himself or others killed. We need hard troops before they become tempered or battle hardened less they crumble in a firefight. An ice cream soldier will melt quickly whereas a tested sword will survive.
I wonder what happened to Christian soldiers. We used to be the Church militant. Granted there were some excesses of legalism that needed to be addressed, but as Andrew Bonar stated we have developed a weak and effeminate Christianity in the West. Indeed, if Christianity were an army we would have difficulty winning battles because we lack unit cohesiveness with many units AWOL or on permanent R&R. Many change the Battle Book to appease the enemy in hopes of avoiding a battle. The slightest thing makes us reach for our stress cards. We don't like having conduct challenged anymore than the Israelis that stoned their prophets.
The South did not lose the War Between the States because they were outnumbered four to one and poorly provisioned. Indeed, they nearly won. Depending on which historian you read only two battles kept them from victory. They lost because too many of their leaders felt they should have the glory so they did things their way or did not show up at time that was appointed. Divided, they fell.
Just like that war, we see victories, but we may lose the war as we are also greatly divided and like in the time of the Judges doing that which right in our own eyes building personal kingdoms and not His. We are the Corinthians where we are of this group or that group or that split of that group.
The 1950s are long gone. We are no longer a Christian nation. We are a nation with Christians in it. That is because of being asleep as well as divided. We are in a hot fight which will lead to a dark night with no chance of flight If we lose. We needs revival where we will unite for the fight turning out light of our country club churches. We are called to stand. United, we stand. Divided, we fall. Harsh truth, but truth nonetheless What will we do?.
