Lay the Axe to the Root
By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe
Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes’ Man of La Mancha, was a
well-meaning, anachronistic gentleman who longed to right the wrongs of the
world. However, his armor and his weapons were outdated and useless. In
his failure to recognize his enemy, he tilted at windmills from the saddle of a
broken down nag named Rocinante.
As Christians, many of us have been waging spiritual warfare in
the same way. We are struggling to wage warfare against the forces
of evil with useless weapons and strategies. It is time to move
forward into victory. It is time to lay the axe to the root of
darkness.
Matthew 3:10: "And
even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which
does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Anger, vitriol, bitterness, ignorance, hatred and filthy language are
the fruit of the tree of fear. We must
lay the axe to the root of that tree. We
each must lay the axe to that tree in our own lives before we can sally forth
to conquer.
The battle began with the choice that Adam made in the Garden. Genesis
2:8-9 (NKJV)
“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
“Knowledge of good and evil” can be translated as “determination
or declaration of good and evil.”. The tree of the determination of
good and evil allows man to decide for himself what is good and what is evil. It
places man above God and eventually sees man as god.
However, the tree of life is the pathway to an abundant life of
love, joy and peace. Its fruit is God’s guidance in avoiding the pitfalls of
life
The tree of the determination of good and evil is the foundation
of all paganism and worldly philosophies such as humanism and existentialism.
Culturally, the two trees are manifested in the Biblical mindset and the Greek
(worldly) mindset.
Satan began his attack on God’s system in the Garden of Eden. He
placed in man’s thoughts the desire for worldly wisdom and knowledge rather
than a relationship with God that would bring us life.
The Greek mindset is one of hopelessness and despair. In the Greek philosophy, each man is given a destiny at birth. The
destiny is always one of despair. Someone once summed up the Greek
mindset as, “Life is one damn thing after another and then you die.”
God’s plan is the opposite. Jeremiah 29:11
(NKJV) “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil,
to give you a future and a hope.”
Semantically, the Greek mindset is seen in the way we define our
words. We have defined darkness as the opposite of light. Two
things that are in opposition to one another must have the same value, the same
weight, the same force. If darkness is truly the opposite of light,
then there is no way to overcome darkness, either physically, morally or
spiritually. Yet we know from experience that light dispels darkness.
While the Greek mindset declares that darkness and light are
opposites, the biblical mindset declares truth: darkness
is not the opposite of light; it is the absence of light. Light will
be victorious.
The same is true with each of the following:
▪ evil is not the opposite of good; it is the absence of good.
▪ hate is not the opposite of love; it is the absence of love.
▪ despair is not the opposite of hope; it is the absence of hope.
▪ a curse is not the opposite of a blessing; it is the absence of
a blessing.
Therefore, light, good, love, hope and blessing will prevail.
The tree of the determination of good and evil will always result
in a pessimistic worldview. Pessimism is not the opposite of
optimism; it is the absence of optimism.
Instead of tilting at the windmill of pessimism with whining and
complaining, we can establish the Kingdom of God (which is love, joy and peace
in the Holy Spirit, first in our hearts, and then in the lives of others, by
declaring truth. In Him, we are more than conquerors.
Romans 8:37-39 (NKJV)
“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
