Have you Sharpened your iron?

Title: Have you Sharpened your iron?

“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” – Matthew 17:21

Some years ago a young man looking for work approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked him for a job. “It depends,” replied the foreman. “Let’s see you take this one down.” The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. The foreman was impressed and exclaimed, “you start Monday!” Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday rolled by. Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, “You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today.” Started the young man asked, “I thought you paid on Fridays.” “Normally we do,” answered the foreman, “but we’re letting you go today because you’ve fallen behind. Your daily charts show that you’ve dropped from first place on Monday to last place on Wednesday. “But I’m a hard worker” the young man objected, “I arrive first and leave last, and I even work through my coffee breaks!” The foreman sensing the boy’s integrity, though for a minute and then asked, “Have you been sharpening your axe?” The young man replied, “Well, no, sir. I’ve been working too hard to take the time.” < Source unknown>

The point of the story is simple, many Christians are running the race of their lives in the energy of their flesh, forgetting the weapon of our warfare are not carnal but made mighty through God (2 Cor. 10:4). Jesus often spent more time with the God than the challenges that he faced on day to day basis. He takes the time to sharpen his axe. Hence, he speaks a word and demons terrible. When the axe is sharp, you don’t have to exact much pressure to get the desired result.

It is important to refocus our perspective and action. It is time to focus on God and not on man to supply the need. Take the time to sharpen your axe, your success depends on it.

One of my favourite stories is about the world wood chopping competition. Now the champion was a bit older than he used to be – well, who isn’t – but he was still the champion. Everyone knew there would come a day when he would have to retire but he was showing no signs of losing his effectiveness or his skills at chopping wood in record time. However, one day, a new would-be challenger decided to challenge the champion. He said to the champion, “Let’s see who can chop the most wood in one day. Let’s chop wood from sunrise until sunset and at the end of the day the one who has chopped the most wood will be the winner.” The champion looked at the young, strong, eager challenger and said, “OK. Let’s do it.” The challenger looked at the muscly, grey haired, ageing champion and thought, “Aha! I think I’m going to win this one.”
So, the challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break; whereas our champion had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At one point he even made a cup of tea for the challenger and said, “Why don’t you stop for 5 minutes and we can drink tea together.” The challenger replied, “Don’t be silly! I’m chopping wood and you’re not. I want to win!
Well, at the end of the day – at sunset – the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the ageing champion had chopped far more wood than he had. “I just don’t get it,” he said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.” The winner looked at him with a warm, genuine smile of friendship and said, “When I was sitting down to rest, did you not notice that whilst I was resting I was sharpening my axe.”

Is your axe sharp? Or is it blunt and worn-out? Have you Sharpened your iron? Take the time to do it today

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