DAILY DEVOTIONAL · June 11, 2026
Friendship in Christ
Proverbs 27:17 — "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."
A spoken reading of this is being recorded — it will appear here soon.
"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." — Proverbs 27:17 (KJV)
The Hebrew sage chose an image of friction. Two pieces of iron, rubbed against each other, both get sharper. The picture is not romantic. Friendship in Christ is not always comfortable; it is often the place where our edges get found, named, and ground down. The friend who loves you in Christ will eventually disagree with you, correct you, and stay anyway. That is the gift the proverb is naming.
The modern household has a great deal of connection and increasingly little of this kind of friendship. A messaging app keeps us in light contact with hundreds of acquaintances. A social platform shows us what they are doing. An AI assistant will, on request, simulate a conversation that feels like talking with a friend. None of these things is iron on iron. None of them is the older gift.
The friend the proverb has in mind is the one who knows your name and your story, who has eaten at your table, who has watched you fail, who has prayed for you when you did not know it, who tells you the truth about yourself slowly, over years. That kind of friendship is built in person. It cannot be downloaded. It is one of the few things that has not gotten any easier to acquire than it was in Solomon's day.
A small practice: this week, name one Christian friend who has sharpened you. Send them an actual message — or, better, plan a meal with them. Thank them, if it is easy to. Make sure they know.
Lord, give us the kind of friends who help us become more like Christ. Make us that kind of friend for someone else. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
AI is an aid, never a replacement for Scripture, prayer, or pastoral guidance.