Western culture seems to be fascinated by historical eras and fantasy worlds where kingdoms were ruled by the strength of swords and arrows. Just look at our enduring obsession with Arthurian legend or the epic adventures woven into the fictional works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

If we actively seek obedience to our Creator, God continues to work with us, applying the appropriate temperature at key points in our lives to forge us into a sturdy and useful tool in His hands—one that will withstand the tests of time.

A sword wielded in the name of truth and justice takes on a noble quality; it becomes a tool to defeat evil. Swords are a prominent symbol in Christianity. They are woven into our concept of the words that we strive to live by on a daily basis. Paul mentions “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).

You’ve probably seen or read many stories with sword-wielding heroes, but have you ever thought about how a blacksmith prepares a sword? Blacksmithing today is an increasingly more rare art, and sword-making knowledge is uncommon. But in our age of information, it’s easy to find descriptions of this impressive skill: that of forging metal into a tool.

Every sword needs to be tempered, which Dictionary.com defines as “the degree of hardness and strength imparted to a metal, as by quenching, heat treatment, or cold working.” Wikipedia’s description of tempering adds: “Tempering is a heat treatment applied . . . to achieve greater toughness by decreasing the hardness of the alloy . . . accomplished by controlled heating of the quenched work-piece to a temperature below its ‘lower critical temperature’ . . . Heating above this temperature is avoided, so as to not destroy the very-hard, quenched microstructure. Precise control of time and temperature during the tempering process is crucial to achieve the desired balance of physical properties.”

Taking this into the realm of spiritual analogy, God works with us through our lifelong conversion process as a blacksmith does in preparing a blade for use. He knows just the right amount of heat or coolness to apply to our lives at the optimal time to deepen our strength (1 Corinthians 10:13). After all, He knows us much better than we know ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9-10; Hebrews 4:12-13).

All analogies only go so far. Unlike a sword in a blacksmith’s hand, we have a very active role to play in our own tempering process by the choices we make throughout the course of each day.

Thankfully God shows us how to make right choices—how to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). His molding and finishing us can seem painful at times, but it shows His love for us, for which we can be very thankful (Hebrews 12:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Through daily prayer, study and meditation on His Word, we come to embody the life that applied that Word to the fullest extent: Jesus Christ (John 1:1). He lived in complete obedience to His Father, teaching us how to more fully do so throughout His earthly ministry (John 13:34; John 14:15; John 15:10; Matthew 5:17-19). 

If we actively seek obedience to our Creator, God continues to work with us, applying the appropriate temperature at key points in our lives to forge us into a sturdy and useful tool in His hands—one that will withstand the tests of time. Not only that, but He also beautifies us through the engraving process, writing His law on our hearts now and extending that opportunity to all others in time (Hebrews 8:10; 1 Timothy 2:4).

May each of us only grow stronger as we trust the hands of our Creator in shaping us into what we were always meant to become.