The Ax Head

The Ax Head

Occasionally we as Christians slip. We mess it up, or we just completely fall off the track. Maybe its because of years of service and our hearts just aren't in it, or maybe we have strayed. Whatever the case we often times may find ourselves not where we need to be with God. Sometimes we lose track of what we should be doing to build the kingdom. In this case we have lost sight of our goal. 

How many times have you felt that your walk with Christ wasn't as close as it once was? You don't desire the fellowship with him like you used to or your joy is gone. Church has became a chore and a procedure rather than something your heart longs for. Don't feel alone, we all have fallen upon times like these and it is completely normal for this to take place. In generations past this used to be called complacency. It is what happens to Christians when they get stale and stagnant. They continue to go to church and they do what they always have done, but the thing that they have not continued to do is to grow in Christ. 

Many times we work so hard for the cause of Christ that we experience a season of burn-out; a time when we do what is expected of us by our church and what man wants, but we fail to follow the leadership of God in our lives because we have found comfort in repeating what we have always done or in doing something God never meant for us to do in the first place. 

Please take time to read and digest the following scripture:

2 Kings 6:1-7

1. And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us.

2. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, go ye.

3. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with my servants. And he answered, I will go.

4. So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.

5. But as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.

6. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.

7. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.

 

In this story pulled from 2 Kings, the people wanted to build another place to dwell, they wanted a home that suited them. So they asked to go to Jordan to clear the land to make a place there to live. They of course needed to clear the land and do the work necessary to make the land suitable for them to inhabit. So they began to cut trees, each man chopping his own tree, when one who was chopping lost his ax in the water. He was fearful and upset because he was using a borrowed ax. He looked to his master in fright and expressed his torment. Then the master cut down a stick, threw it in the water, and the ax floated to the top of the water.

 Many times we as Christians are doing our work, building the kingdom and we drop our ax along the way. Without the ax the labor would be considerably less difficult since we no longer carry the weight of the tool, but also without our ax we can no longer build the kingdom and clear the land. 

So how do we get our ax back? Well... We must go back to where we dropped it, ask for God's forgiveness for our laziness, and pick it up and get back to work. 

Sometimes we may still have our ax in our hands, but the blade has grown dull. In that case we must take the blade back to the blacksmith for sharpening. Go back to the one who supplied the blade because he is the one who knows about the alloys that were put together to compose the materials that make up the blade. He alone knows best about how to put just the right edge on the blade to achieve the best performance of your tool.

You see, God has a specific plan and design for each and every born again child of God. He knows exactly what you should be doing and what tools to provide you with to get that job done. So many times we desire to do work for the Lord, but we want to do it on our own terms, with our own tools. We may even start with the tool He designed for us and then later decide that we like someone else's tool better. We try, and we try hard, but we are never able to achieve the level of success God intended even when we put forth much more effort than we would have by using His plan and His tools. Things always work much better and go much smoother when God is allowed to be in control.

Have you lost your ax?

Where did you drop it? Or are you using a dull blade? Stop carrying around the wrong tool or a dull blade. Go back to where you dropped it, or where you sunk it into the rock instead of the wood, or where you stole someone else's tool. Pick up your tool, take it to the smith sharpen it and get back to work. Your life will be much easier and God will bless you far more for your efforts.

 

Sincerely,

Jeremy Epperson

Meadow Lane

 

I welcome your thoughts and comments below. Please leave your thoughts below.

Leave a comment