I have been married to my wonderful bride for 3 years. We are expecting our first child, a baby boy, this August and are getting very excited as the time draws closer. I am a 6th grade science teacher in South Jersey, as well as, a cross country and track coach. Along with school, I am also a part time youth pastor at Lakes Community Chapel. As you might have noticed from my career choices, I love working with kids. Students are my passion. My wife and I love building into students’ lives at school(she is also a teacher) and facilitating their learning. Ultimately we love working with our youth group and pointing them to a closer relationship with Christ.
A verse that I really try and live out on a daily basis is:
Proverbs 27:17 – “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
This verse impacts my life in various ways. First this verse shows how God wired our emotions and did not intend for us to be alone. God even says in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that the man should be alone”. He made us to be relational people. Being relational comes easy to my wife and I. We love spending time with people whether it’s having them to our house or going out with them. But the verse’s challenge is, what are you doing with those relationships? This introduces the second challenge.
Secondly, what purpose do you have in your relationships? Are you just spending time with your friends for entertainment or are you challenging them to be more like Christ? In the first part of this verse, it talks about how iron can sharpen iron. Rubbing two iron blades together will cause the edges of the blades to sharpen making them more efficient at their task to cut and slice. In our life, we should strive to “sharpen” one another to be more efficient at our task of being more like Christ. One interesting point is the fact that at times when rubbing two blades together, they might experience some abrasiveness. In the same manner when you are challenging your brother or sister to be more like Christ, there might be times of unpleasantness but in the end it causes us to be a better person as well as becoming more like Jesus.
This challenge has been weighing on my heart lately with our youth group. We were talking every week about our devotions and our personal walk with God, but I wanted more accountability. I wasn’t really sure how to go about it until one of the guys in our youth group suggested that we all read the same devotions on a Bible App, then talk about the devotions in a group chat afterwards. I thought the idea was brilliant. So, we decided on a passage and started texting during the week about what we learned and questions we wanted answered. Last week during our daily devotions, we read Proverbs 27:17 and our discussion proceeded. At the discussion’s closing, one of the students wrote, “It’s a lot easier to stay away from the ways of the world when you’re with another who’s doing the same things as you. Like they said ‘iron sharpens iron’.”
It has been such a blessing to see the guys in our youth group constantly in the Bible and challenging each other to stay in the Word. This verse held true for me when I was younger, it still holds true for me today, and will continue to hold true for me for the rest of my life. I need to constantly be pushing my brothers to be more like Christ and in doing so it will allow me to be more like Christ as well.
Ryne and Danielle Davies serve as the youth leaders at Lakes Chapel, where they have served for over two years. Our church is exceedingly blessed to have this incredibly talented and godly young couple working with our teens. This month they will be taking a group of our teens to serve at Second Wind Cottages in Ithaca, NY, where they will help build cottages for the homeless.
Learn more about the ministry of Second Wind Cottages and how you can help:
Second Wind Cottages Update: Finishing the Walls from Community Faith Partners on Vimeo.