Bitter or Better
As part of my training as an engineer, I spent a couple of months in a foundry, and in a metal shop. I learnt that ordinary steel is very soft, but by adding alloying agents, qualities such as harness, ductility and tensile strength can be affected. For example, steel for tools is alloyed using large amounts of tungsten or cobalt.
Then there are ways of treating steel to improve its qualities further. It is strengthened by heating and then beating known as tempering, and the stresses are relieved by heating and gentle cooling known as normalising or annealing. It can then be hardened by heating and then cooling rapidly by quenching in water or oil.
In his letter, James tells the early Christian to consider it pure joy whenever they face trials of many kinds - the spiritual heat and pressure - because the testing of our faith develops resilience, maturity, strength and usefulness.
To sharpen toughened and hardened steel used for a tool like a chisel, you have to use a material of similar hardness. Proverbs 27:17 says: ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another’.
This week has been tough in lots of ways, but I know that the way I react to the difficult circumstances in life, can either strengthen and make me better, or crush me and make me bitter! And having friends around you who will challenge and encourage you, gives you an edge and keeps you sharp.
David Thatcher
Add comment March 11th, 2010