Are You Laboring in Vain?
They call it your “cutting edge.” It’s what puts you ahead of the competition. It gives you the advantage you need to succeed. It’s the key to your long term progress. If you have it, you need to retain it. If you lose it, you should take steps to recover it immediately. That’s true in business. That’s true spiritually!
An incident recorded in 2 Kings 6:1-7 illustrates this principle. The sons of the prophet, Elisha, were cutting down trees to build a new facility for the ministry when one of them experienced a mishap. As he swung his axe to cut down trees, his axe head flew off the handle and fell into the Jordan River. When that happened, he lost his cutting edge, and when he lost it, trees stopped falling. He may have continued to swing at trees, but without his cutting edge, his labor would have been in vain.
What is your cutting edge as a child of God? The answer is found in John 15:5. To His disciples, Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” That is, “I am the source and means of your success in life and ministry. Without me, you are a man trying to cut down trees without an axe head. Your swinging, your sweating, will be in vain.”
Child of God, do not ever become so busy that you neglect to cultivate your faith in Jesus and grow in grace. Give priority to your time alone with Him in prayer and the Word. Become more and more conscious of His gift of righteousness. The more you meditate on His Word of grace, the more conscious you will become of Jesus’ presence and power working in and through you, and the more success you will walk in.
That, my friend, is what it takes to be on the cutting edge spiritually. And that, my friend, is grace!
A Moment of Grace 
Thanks Bishop, that’s so true. We can’t do without Jesus.
Amen!