SHARPEN THE AX
Back in the 1800’s a young man was looking for a job and went to the local logging company to apply for a job. The foreman asked him if he could cut a tree down with an ax. The young man said yes, and proceeded to take his ax, walk over to a tree and drop it like an old pro.
The foreman was impressed and hired him. On Monday, the young man outperformed everyone else on the crew. But, each day after that, he got slower and slower and by Friday, he barely managed to cut down one tree.
He worked just as hard; swinging his ax, hitting the tree over and over again, but it just didn’t work as well as it did on Monday. Finally, the young man who was nearly exhausted laid down his ax, and sat down.
At this point the foreman came over and told the young man he knew what the problem was. He explained to the young man that he had been so busy cutting trees down that he had forgotten to sharpen his ax. Consequently it had become dull and was essentially useless since it had not been kept in good condition.
I believe the number one excuse that Christians give for not reading the Bible is that they just don’t have time, that they are just too busy. Yet, when we neglect God’s Word, we are like an ax that has been neglected. We become spiritually dull and are essentially useless.
So the first tool God uses to sharpen us, and build our character, and make us more like His Son is His Word.