THE IMPORTANCE OF STAYING SHARP

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

A dull ax means harder work. Being wise will make it easier.

Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NCV)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Imagine you had a pile of trees in front of you and you had the task of chopping them up into logs small enough to fit your fireplace. It wouldn’t be an easy task, even if you had the right tool for the right job.

Now imagine that you grab your axe to do the job only to discover it is incredibly dull. You begin to chop and chop and chop but make little progress on just your first cut. You know immediately that this is going to take a while and it may even turn into a task that isn’t going to get done at all unless the axe is sharpened so it is useful. You are kicking yourself because if you would have just used a little foresight, you would have sharpened the axe before you set out to use it. That would have been the wise thing to do.

This scenario is exactly what our scripture verse is getting at as we look at the 10th verse of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 10:

A dull ax means harder work. Being wise will make it easier.

From a worldly perspective it makes complete sense but God’s word almost always is teaching us much more than real world practicality. There is usually an element of spiritual instruction embedded in the scriptures and this is no different.

For instead of a pile of logs needing cut, let’s say we have a group of people who need to be told about Jesus and His life, about how He lived and why we must live likewise as Christians, about how He saved us through willingly paying the price for our sins. There’s a lot of work that is ahead but as you set out to answer the call of Christ to make disciples, you realize you aren’t as sharp as you should be in regard to the scriptures and how they relate to the people you need to talk to. You quickly realize you are not quite up to the task ahead, much like the dull axe in use on the pile of trees.

Friends, when we opt to do the things of the world over communing closely with the Lord through daily reading of the scriptures in pursuit of righteousness and becoming more like Jesus, we become less than what the Lord designed us to do. We fail to meet His expectations in the work He calls us to do, just as the dull axe struggles to make a cut into wood that should easily yield to its power.

In the end translation, turning away from wisdom and discernment and enrichment from God’s word leads us to a place where we waste our potential and become far less than the Lord expects for us to be.

So how do we ensure we aren’t dull in our faith, a failure in fulfilling our obligation to help others find their way to Christ and salvation?

The answer comes in this single verse from Romans, Chapter 12:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

When we choose to sacrifice ourselves fully for Christ, just as He fully sacrificed Himself for us, then and only then can we be considered wise and fully equipped to carry out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) with energy and fervor and power. And when we reach that state, we’ll find ourselves cutting away the bondage of Satan from those who are in the world and of it because we will have the word of the Lord as our sword (Ephesians 6:17) and we’ll wield our weapon with skill and strength, all because we chose Jesus, the One through which we can do all things (Philippians 4:13).

So what are you today, a dull axe or a genuine swordsman of the word of the Lord?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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