Theological Commentary: Click Here
Ecclesiastes
10:10 is an inspiring verse. If the iron
is blunt, and one doesn’t sharpen the edge, it requires more force. I love this expression on many levels. Most basic, of course, is the simple physical
explanation. Most people get cut with
dull knives because their cutting is unreliable so they have to push
harder. If you try to cut things with
blunt edges you end up doing more tearing than actual cutting. The point is that blunt things aren’t as
useful. In fact, blunt things make a job
harder than they need be.
There is a
deeper level to this. Notice that the
saying includes a condition. The verse
says, “and one doesn’t sharpen the edge.”
There is an assumption here. The
assumption is that the smart things to do is to sharpen the edge. If a blunt edge makes life harder, sharpen
the edge so it isn’t blunt anymore!
However, while this is the common sense thing to do, it isn’t what
actually happens most of the time. If it
did, then this saying wouldn’t exist!
The reality is that many people won’t take the time to improve
themselves. They will simply stay the
way that they are, doing things the hard way.
I see this
all the time in school. A student struggles. Rather than get help, the student continues
to do what they’ve always done. No
surprise, they continue to struggle.
Instead of sharpening their mind, they continue to swing away at their
education with a blunt tool.
Students
aren’t the only ones guilty of this offense, though. Adults do it all the time. We bury issues rather than sharpening our
minds and dealing with them. We continue
in bad habits rather than sharpening our life and changing our ways. We react with raw and blunt emotions rather
than sharpening our responses through logic and reasoning.
The truth is
simple. When we live life with blunt
aspects – whether it is our mind, our emotions, or our actions – our life is
harder. When we allow ourselves to be
sharpened, life becomes easier and better lived.
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