Sharp

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

There is so much wisdom in these words from Proverbs, but how often do we shy away from someone who would "sharpen" us? How often do we back down, or flare up, in the face of disagreement? How often do we avoid arguing our ideas because argument is conflict, and we hate conflict? How often do we refuse to listen to opposing ideas because we know we're right?

Like many people (particularly women, I think), I've been a conflict-avoider for much of my life. I've always been wary of arguing a particular idea because--who knows?--maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I have something to learn. Maybe someone has a better argument, and my position isn't as tenable as I thought. Yes, I'm open-minded that way, which I think is a good thing, but there's also the fear that ...

Maybe I'll look dumb.

Ah, yes. FOLD (Fear Of Looking Dumb) is a condition I've struggled with for much of my life. I fear it less now that I'm well into middle age; something about hitting my mid-forties partially inoculated me against such worries. But some of it lingers. I can spot fallacies and analyze other arguments relatively well, but when it comes time for me to argue, I go blank.

And FOLD turns into reality. I look dumb. Uninformed. Unprepared.

But the more I read, and the more I learn, and the more I just look at the culture around me, I am seeing more clearly the necessity that Christians be able to defend the gospel and the message of Christ against an onslaught of opposing worldviews. A significant chunk of cultural Christians are "deconstructing" and are evangelizing their deconstruction just as enthusiastically (or perhaps more so) as they evangelized their belief 15 or 20 years ago. Churches are toying with, and fully embracing, progressive ideas that don't quite gel with traditional, biblical Christianity. Maybe that tide can't be stopped, but we should at least stand against it.

And to do that, we have to be sharp. We need to be ready to explain why we believe what we believe, and why our belief is true.

To be sharp, we need to do our homework. We need to know our stuff. We need to be willing to interact with people who have opposing ideas. We can't shy away from conflict.

This is one of my big challenges right now: To be willing to embrace disagreement and conflict, to learn what I can from it, and to not back down and ... fold ... when I need to stand up.