a plea to be sharpened

I have decided to enter the blogging world. I do not promise to be consistent, I do not promise to be intellectually intriguing, I do not promise to bring to mind life altering concepts of which you have never pondered. I do, however, promise to be honest.

The reason I have started a blog is so that I am forced to sit and digest all that God is doing in my heart and life. While it is of utmost importance to pray, read, and meditate; all of these things lose power when you are not effectively communicating their impressions on your life to others. Why is it important to communicate? 1) In communicating with others you sharpen your own understanding. 2) We are relational beings, good and effective relationships are built on solid communication. 3) Communicating what God is doing in your life is a great encouragement to those with whom you share. So why don't people communicate more often? One reason I have found to be true in my own life would be the fear of judgement. We (I) pride ourselves (myself) in our (my) ability to not care what people think about us (me). When the truth of the matter is, we don't care what people think about the parts of ourselves we are willing to show them, but if we were completely honest in who we are and where we are at with others we would be just as vulnerable as the next person. We fear the judgement of others, but why? Should we not seek it?

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs27:17

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
James5:16

How then can we sharpen one another if we are not open and honest with each other? We are healed when we confess our sins. We are not in this alone. God has given us each other for a reason. We have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ to push each other toward Christ and in that glorify His name. I hope and pray that the people in my life love and care for me enough to hold me accountable to who I am in Christ. Shame on the friend who pats me on the back and tells me I am doing well when it is evident that I have not been aligning myself with Christ. Shame on me for not holding my friends and loved ones accountable to who they are in Christ. We often find comfort in complacency and therefore avoid addressing the problems because that would lead to change. It seems as though with one hand we continue in sin while with the other we pat a friend on the back in "understand" to what they are struggling with. I fear that one day I might look up to find us all stand in one large circle patting each other on the back. When in all reality we need to violently shake one another until we see how far we have allowed ourselves to stray from Christ and his will for our lives. I don't know where you are at but I need to be shaken every now and then. I need to be held accountable.

That being said; I give you, the readers of this blog, permission to shake me. Yell at me. Confront me. Specifically, I need to be held accountable to memorizing scripture. There are indeed many other things of which I need to be held accountable, but I don't have time to write a book. Sharpen me please, so that I might sharpen you.