Is Your Ax Dull?
Sometimes very profound wisdom can be stated in very plain terms. Solomon shared a priceless gem for all of us in Ecclesiastes 10:10. It was shared with me first by pastor Albery Mulkey the Sunday night before I left to attend college at Baylor University. I have always remembered it. Let me explain it for all of us today.
If your life is difficult, and it takes a lot of strength and work just to get through, you are probably working with a dull ax. You need to sharpen your ax, so it will cut with less strength. Make it easy on yourself. That is what God wants. We are all using dull axes until we apply God's wisdom to our lives. That is what sharpens our ax and brings success. If we try to do things with our own dull ax, our methods, we might get it done, but it will wear us out, like chopping down a tree with a dull ax. God does not intend for life to be a struggle all of the time, but if we continue to make wrong choices and do things our way, we will struggle. We have to apply ourselves to seek His wisdom and use it to sharpen our ax for the work ahead of us each step of the way. We get His wisdom from applying His Word and what He shows us. It is not enough to know it. We have to live it out in the power of the Spirit. Then, we can work smarter instead of working harder to accomplish His will, which is much better than our way.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Song of Solomon 2-5.
If your life is difficult, and it takes a lot of strength and work just to get through, you are probably working with a dull ax. You need to sharpen your ax, so it will cut with less strength. Make it easy on yourself. That is what God wants. We are all using dull axes until we apply God's wisdom to our lives. That is what sharpens our ax and brings success. If we try to do things with our own dull ax, our methods, we might get it done, but it will wear us out, like chopping down a tree with a dull ax. God does not intend for life to be a struggle all of the time, but if we continue to make wrong choices and do things our way, we will struggle. We have to apply ourselves to seek His wisdom and use it to sharpen our ax for the work ahead of us each step of the way. We get His wisdom from applying His Word and what He shows us. It is not enough to know it. We have to live it out in the power of the Spirit. Then, we can work smarter instead of working harder to accomplish His will, which is much better than our way.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Song of Solomon 2-5.