I explained to Jan what I was doing when I was sharpening a knife: “A dull knife is useless.” Without a sharp blade, a dull knife cannot fulfill its purpose. Hope is what keeps the blade of our faith sharp. Hopelessness dulls our spiritual knife, making us unable to incise the issues of this life because our blade has become spiritually dull and ineffective.

Our faith can become dull if we have allowed the blade of our faith to become insensitive to the voice of God. What prevents this dulling is our hope in God that He will fulfill what He promised. A lack of hope is the beginning of the dulling process of our faith.

After telling the reader that “Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true” (Hebrews 6:11). The writer of Hebrews revealed the importance of love motivating our actions. That choice reinforces our hope and sharpens our faith in the challenging times of life.

“Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance” (Hebrews 6:12). The “slow and indifferent” part of this verse has been translated as “dull, slow, and sluggish.”

To receive the benefits of our faith in this life, we need to make sure the blade of our faith remains sharp and not allow it to become dull. The word of God is the whetstone He uses to make sure our faith remains strong and does not become a dull tool in the hands of God.

The word of God can grind away what the fear and brokenness we have allowed to dull our faith. “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword” (4:12). Because the word of God in us is sharper than any natural blade, we can cut through things that a dulled faith could not imagine. Only a sharpened faith can execute the deep incisions that are required to separate truth from error and trust from hopelessness.