Whet the Edge
Ecclesiastes 10:10
“If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.”
When I lived in West Virginia, our home had a wood stove that we used to heat the home in the winter time. Most of the time, my wood was already split into the size that I needed to put into the wood stove, but every once in awhile I had to use an axe to split my wood. As long as the axe was sharp, splitting the wood was not difficult. Sure, it was work, but work has never hurt anyone; however, splitting wood with a dull axe will wear you out because you are having to try and use your strength to split the wood. If the axe head is sharp, then the axe is doing most of the work, but when it is dull, you have to put more strength to it and still not get the same results that you should.
In the Christian life I have found many people who are swinging their spiritual axes with a blunt edge. Sunday school teachers are teaching their class with a blunt edge. Bus workers are running their busses with a blunt edge. Church workers are working their ministries with a blunt edge. Sadly, there are preachers who are pastoring their church with a blunt edge. They are having to do all the work, and yet they are not getting the results they could get if they would whet, or sharpen, their spiritual axe. Let me show you some things that sharpen the spiritual axe.
First, spending time daily in the Scriptures will whet your spiritual edge. If you don’t spend time with God in the Scriptures, you will find that your spiritual edge will become dull. You are not going to get the spiritual sustenance you need without spending time in God’s Word.
Second, spending time in prayer will whet your spiritual edge. Christian, you can run in the Christian life for so long on your own strength, but eventually you are going to have to spend time in prayer to get God’s strength. Prayer has a way of sharpening your spiritual edge. You will not be as sharp as you are supposed to be in the Christian life without whetting your edge.
Third, getting rid of sin will whet your edge. The quickest way to make the Christian life dull is to let sin put a blunt edge on your spiritual life. You can fake anything for awhile, but eventually sin will make your edge so dull that you will never be able to do for God what you are supposed to do.
Fourth, soul winning will whet your edge. There is nothing like leading someone to Christ that puts the edge back into the Christian life. Seeing someone you led to Christ come to church and get baptized, and then watching them grow in the LORD will put an edge on your Christian life that many don’t have. I promise you that the soul winner will have more of a spiritual edge than anyone else.
Finally, being filled with the Holy Spirit will whet the edge. All of the things above will only go so far in whetting your edge, but allowing the Holy Spirit of God to empower you to do His work will give you a razor sharp edge. It makes the work so much easier when the Holy Spirit is empowering you.
Let me ask you, is your spiritual edge blunt in life? In what area is your spiritual axe dull? A Christian who whets His spiritual axe is the Christian who will accomplish the most for Christ. I implore you to whet your edge for the sake of Christ. Be sure that you allow these things to keep you spiritually sharp so you can accomplish the work that God placed you on this Earth to do.