Live Your Design

Take Time To Sharpen Your Ax

by John Hawkins  |  26 Aug 2008  |  2 Comments

Take Time To Sharpen Your Ax
2Kings 6. 1-6

Here is an interesting story about a preacher by the name of Elisha who had a very powerful and successful ministry. Elisha had been trained and mentored by another well-known prophet of his day, Elijah. Elijah had hand picked Elisha to be his successor when he passed off the scene. The ministries of both of these men had been marked by some amazing miracles. As he had been trained Elisha knew the importance of training others for the mission in which he was engaged so he developed a college for this.

There is probably no greater feeling than that which we get from investing our life in another and watching them succeed. When we take all the years of our experience and knowledge and pass it on to someone else it adds meaning to our life. Each of us comes to what I call the legacy stage of life. The stage when we think not so much about our next goal to achieve but what will we leave behind to be a positive influence on others. This stage usually comes in the second half of our life. When we are in the first half of life we need to be wise enough to seek out those in their second half to pass on some of this important information to us. Sometimes this isn’t as much a matter of age as experience, although these two usually go together.

Apparently Elisha’s college was doing well because they ran out of room for the students. So they approached Elisha about the idea of building a bigger place to which he agreed. They went down to the Jordan River to cut down some trees for the project and an amazing thing happened. One of the students had his ax head fly off the handle as he was cutting down a tree. It flew into the river and apparently was lost. This terribly upset the student because it was borrowed. He no doubt felt the obligation to replace it but as most students perhaps didn’t have the money to do so. When he told Elisha about the incident his response led to another miracle in Elisha’s ministry.

Elisha went to where the ax went into the water. He cut off a stick and threw it into the water and the ax head floated to the surface so the student could retrieve it. There is no rational explanation for this it was simply a miracle. The purpose here is not to discuss the theological implications of this event or to argue about miracles. Rather there are some very practical applications we can make from this event to our life and the lives of these we lead or mentor.

One, if you are going to cut down a tree have an ax don’t try to do it with a hammer. Have you ever tried to do some repair job at home without the right tool? How much time is wasted and how much more difficult is the job? Sometimes the job is impossible to do without the right tool (at least that is what us guys tell our wives when the game is on). Sometimes we have to swallow our pride and call the professional who quickly fixes the problem as they produce that magical tool designed for just that job. This means a couple of things to us:
1) Know what tool you need for the job – What am I trying to accomplish and what skill or kind of person is needed for this? These are questions we need to be able to answer and have clear in our own mind.

2) Invest in the right tools – through training, gaining experience, or hiring the right people for the job. Don’t take short cuts here because of outside pressure or impatience. However, don’t procrastinate doing this because of the cost or difficulty involved.

3) Don’t start the project without the right tool – You will only add expense and waste time in doing so. The whole project may even fail for lack of one simple tool.

Two, know when you have lost the ax head. There is nothing that appears more foolish than trying to cut down a tree with just an ax handle. This will be a very long and difficult process. However, that is what we sometimes do. The head comes off, we know it and so does everyone else but we keep chopping acting as if nothing happened. By this I mean we have lost our sharpness but we won’t admit it. This can be for any number of reasons: 1) personal problems 2) stress, fatigue 3) lack of preparation 4) past emotional wounds that have never been addressed and are resurfacing again 5) moral or ethical compromises that are causing us to lose focus 6) lack of balance in our life – we are physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual beings. Are we addressing all these areas in our life? 7) A misplaced sense of identity – defining ourselves by our job or ministry 8) a lack of boundaries in my life.

Three, when the ax head has come off stop swinging. “What will I do if I don’t keep swinging,” you ask. For many of us we have being swinging so long we don’t know how to do something else. A good idea would be to find the ax head and take some time to sharpen it. As a matter of fact if we took the time to occasionally check on the condition of our ax we might not lose it in the first place. Usually we feel there are so many trees to cut down that we feel we can’t afford the time to care for our ax or we can always do that later. This is a foolish shortsighted view. Imagine an airline that would not take the time or expense to service their planes. After a few crashes, lawsuits, and bad PR they wouldn’t be in business very long.

Once you are aware you have lost the ax head go back to where you lost it. By that I mean to take the time to reflect on when was the last time you really enjoyed what you where doing. When did you lose that enjoyment, passion, motivation, and sharpness and why? Has the problem been routine maintenance? God didn’t make us to work seven days a week. Jesus said life is not about the abundance of our things (Luke 12.15). Do you take time for self-reflection, time to plan, to refill your emotional, spiritual, relational, and psychological tanks? Do you know what refills those tanks? Do you take some time for recreation? You have heard it said that at the end of our life no one would say I wish I had spent a little more time at the office or closed one more deal.
Life is about relationships, our relationship with God and our relationship with others. What am I doing to develop and nurture those relationships? Taking the time to do the previously mentioned things is not wasted time. Don’t think that is for someone else. “I am a type A mover and shaker with more important things to do.” Take the time to keep you ax sharp and you more effective. It is working smarter not just longer. In the long run it will make you more productive and also help you live longer.

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