There was once a strong man who got a job from a timber merchant to chop down trees. The boss showed him the axe and the area where in the forest where he was to work. The first day, the wood-cutter cut down eighteen trees. He did a great job. The wood-cutter tried even harder the next day, but he only cut down fifteen trees. The third day he tried even harder but only cut down ten trees. He worked harder, skipping lunch breaks. He thought to himself, “I must be losing my strength.” When his boss came out to fire the man he had one look at his axe and said, “When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” “Sharpen my axe?” the wood-cutter replied. “I’ve been too busy trying to cut down enough trees.”
What happened? He never sharpened his axe. My friend sometimes we need to take a break and sharpen our axe. As we apply this to the Bible we can see that this happens a lot of believers. They have read the story of Jonah, they know who Joseph was, and have studied about the life Paul. The reality is that there is always room for growth.
When we sit down and wake up with the Bible, we can learn more things than we did the day before. It’s easy to quickly read through a passage of Scripture, but it is critical to study each word to find the correct meaning.
In whatever job you do, there is always room for growth. There is something beautiful about excellence. When we take the right time to sharpen our axe, we will begin to see our work improve. It’s not about sweating and working long hours, it is about using the time we have effectively.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Take time today to sharpen your axe. Take a Scripture and meditate on it. There are more parts of the story and more parts to each book of the Bible that we have not found. Yes, you may have read that Scripture before but there is still much more to learn.
