The Not-So-Fun Discipline of Sharpening

When I had the privilege of going to work with Auntie Trinie on the Christian magazine she edited, Voz en el desierto, she introduced me to a world of colorful characters. One of them was the never-to-be-forgotten Hortensia.

Auntie met the vibrant Presby (short for Presbyterian) through her decades-long link with that denomination. Although herself of the full gospel persuasion, Presbyterian friends who rubbed elbows with Auntie were so impressed by her solid values and her down-to-earth way of communicating God's truths, that she was often asked to lead Presbyterian study groups for women. This led to her friendship with the infamous Hortensia, a red-blooded chilanga (Mexican slang for someone from Mexico City).

By the time Auntie met her, Hortensia was already middle aged, unmarried, and labeled an old maid. But she didn't let that take anything away from her passion for Jesus. Nothing spotlights it like the story of her friend Martha.

To be sure, I don't remember the friend's real name, but for the sake of calling her something, I'll stick with Martha. Anyway, "Martha" was sharing a taxi with Hortensia on the way home from a church function when Martha invited Hortensia to stop and see her home. Having the time to do so, Hortensia acquiesced. So the taxi driver dropped both ladies off, and the pair entered Martha's home.

Martha proudly waltzed Hortensia into the living area. Hortensia's face took on a mottled appearance but she refrained from saying anything until they toured the bedroom. There, as in the parlor, was a niche devoted to a graven image, a "saint".

Hortensia started praying--loudly. "Lord, thank You for this beautiful home you've given Martha. But please, Lord, forgive her for not loving You with her whole heart."

Martha blanched. "Hortensia, don't say such a thing!"

Hortensia shook her friend's beseeching hand off her arm and continued talking to the Lord, as we say in Spanish, a voz en cuello--at full blast! "Lord, You say that we should not have any other gods before You, and Martha professes to love You, but just look at what she has here in her home! Idols! She doesn't put into practice what she says with her mouth--she doesn't really put You first, Lord!"

Martha began sweating bullets. "Please, Hortensia, don't tell the Lord that! What will He think!"

Hortensia opened her eyes to spear her friend with daggers.

"What will He think??? What will He think???? Why, you silly goose, He has eyes! Don't you think He's already seen these idols you have in your home?"

"Please, Hortensia, don't tell Him that! Tell Him I'm sorry. I do love Him! I do! I'll ... I'll get rid of them!"

By the time Auntie got to this point in her narrative, we'd be doubled over laughing at Hortensia's bossiness and bold audacity. The way in which she expressed her spiritual insight might have been unorthodox, but it worked for her. It was an outcrop of the essence of all that made her "Hortensia".

But mixed in with our laughter was a healthy dose of admiration. How many would have the intestinal fortitude to call out a friend like this? While it is true that Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend," most of us find that a hard row to hoe. But Hortensia? Her strong personality lent itself to being used by God in this way and underscores the truth that real friendship is hallmarked by transparency and honesty.

There's another side to this sharpening-each- other-in-the-Lord business. I don't think being in Martha's shoes is anyone's idea of "fun"--but isn't our goal to have all the dreg-like stuff in our lives be taken care of so we can be like Jesus (1 John 3:2-3)? It's one thing to say, "Lord, purify me, make me more like Jesus" and it's another to actually go through the not-so-much-fun process.

To my shame, I have had my share of times standing in Martha's shoes. It does not feel good, for example, to have someone call you out as acting in a way that is detrimental to the ministry. In that instance, I was caught completely off guard. How was I to know that my "innocent" jibe would be understood in the spirit in which it was given? It might have been couched in the form of a joke, but the reality was that my words had been prompted by a burning jealousy that simmered in my belly, an envy of the times my friends spent together without me.

When I whined about the accusation to God, I honestly expected Him to pat me on the back and murmur sweet nothings in my ear. Things like, "You poor, mistreated child. Let me take care of those mean old friends who don't understand you!" Hmm ... it didn't quite play out like that.

The reality was that it felt as if God had pulled me by that tender spot, the hair by your temple, and scolded me! "You might be right," He spoke to my heart, "that your friends left you out. But even when you are right, you are wrong. No matter what the circumstances, it is always wrong to be jealous."

The story of Joseph flashed before me. His brothers had every "right" to be jealous--their father blatantly favored their brother over them. But James says, "For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work" (James 3:16). Even though Joseph's brothers had, in the natural, a "right" to be jealous, they were wrong, wrong, wrong to embrace that emotion and let it govern their actions.

The truth I was called out on hurt like crazy, but I'm glad my friend had the courage to face me down, shake me as it were, and force me to realize I had some spiritual house-cleaning to do.

There's a reason why sparks fly when metal sharpens metal--sharpening ain't easy and it ain't fun (plus--you have to know what you're doing or you just might start a fire!). But I will always be eternally grateful for the servants of God who, when being led by Him, have the courage to confront us when it is needed. To be spurred on to be the best we can be for Jesus might be painful, but it is priceless.

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Timothy 2:19-21).