For all the unique traits that come with being a man, one of the strangest is our tendency to want to be alone. In some cases, that is helpful as you need time alone with God. But today, we are talking about being alone for the wrong reason. Iron sharpens iron!
Matthew 18:20 — “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Power in Numbers
In our focus verse today, we can see there is a power in numbers. God says, “…there am I among them,” and that is a great place to be.
Being alone while studying the Bible is a wonderful way to read about God’s plan for our lives. It’s the authority on God’s expectation for our behavior, growth, actions, speech, and more. But the downside of ONLY studying God’s Word alone is you may convince yourself of unintended meanings. You may start to read God’s Word with an agenda with no accountability to tell you otherwise.
A great way to tell if a person is spending too much time studying God’s Word with an agenda is their tone tends to get extreme and aggressive.
There is truth to be learned in the Bible and spoken to a lost world. But the example I’m talking about is not that. This person has placed himself in a position where only He can know God’s truth, and it’s this person’s job to use God’s Word as a club.
Iron Sharpens Iron
The beauty of the verse is “where two or there are gathered…”. This verse means for us to seek Godly counsel and learn from each other. If you came to a group and someone said, “Jesus was one of God’s sons,” an incorrect statement like that could be corrected quickly. He was the only son! I love the verse from Proverbs 27:17 — “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
How are you to sharpen others and get sharpened yourself if you’ve put yourself in a box? Do you know what happens when you don’t get sharpened by other men? You become a blunt object that does not have the effect that God intended.
Get out of the box and into a Bible study with someone else. They may know more than you, or you may know more than them. It’s about accountability, truth, support, and learning how to communicate the Gospel effectively.
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