Focus: Sharpen Your Tools! (Pt.1)

Text: 1Sam.13:20

"But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock."

Tools need sharpening. Greater usefulness is achieved by sharpening the tools we work or war with. Tell me, what is the use of dull tools? We need constant mending and maintenance of the tools and weapons in our hands for greater usefulness. 

What's the essence of having tools that cannot deliver? Dull mind or intelligence is useless. Imagine a dull brain or dull life! Of what benefit are dulled senses and instruments? 

Tools are ready for use when sharpened, and when tools are sharpened, they glitter.

The Lord Jesus Christ called James and John right where they were "mending their nets," getting them ready for use in their next outing, and making sure that the nets yield their intended result, which is catching fish. James and John were not only fishers, but also menders.

Even relationships or friendships need servicing, and as Solomon has said, "Iron sharpens iron" (Prov.27:17). Micah tells us that "the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge" (Mic.7:4). We are sharpened by being upright.

We need sharpening to be battle ready. God says that we are His "battle axe and weapons of war" (Jer.51:20). God says, "Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth…"(Isa.41:15). 

How can God win battles through you if you don't let Him sharpen you?

David was God's ready tool against Goliath. He had the sharpness of faith and courage, and God got the result He wanted from him. Are you a ready tool in God's hands? Can God win battles through you with all the roughness in your life? How is your life, dull or sharp? Do you have the cutting edge that it takes to win or succeed in the marketplaces of this world?

Take a look at Jesus Christ. John tells us that "out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword… These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges… And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations…" (Rev.1:16; 2:12; 19:15). The word in the mouth of Christ is a sharp instrument. It is not only sharp, but it also sharpens. The word of God shapes and sharpens us. 

The author of Hebrews says, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword…" (Heb.4:12). No sword or knife is as sharp as the word spoken by God. It accomplishes its intended purpose. 

Christ, as the incarnate word of God, was a sharp tool in God's hands in fulfilling the redemptive plan of God on the cross, and also, as the living word of God, He remains a ready tool for every purpose of God in this life.

Be a ready tool in God's hands! Get yourself sharpened at all times! Make yourself usable and useful to God! Paul says of himself, "I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction" (2Cor.13:10). Your sharpness is meant to destroy the forces of evil on one hand, and to edify or build up God's people, on the other hand. You need sharpening, including the tools God has given you.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter