Monday, April 21, 2008

People Can Smell the Slightest Hint of Unholiness - Apples of Gold - April 21, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for April 21, 2008

“People Can Smell the Slightest Hint of Unholiness”


Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

When I was a little kid I was fascinated by cowboys.

They had the guns and the horses and, man, what a life of action!

I had my own six-shooters with leather holsters that tied around my legs; you know, so you could draw your guns lightning fast. 

Okay, so maybe I saw a few too many cowboy shows.  But you didn’t have to see many to know how they go.

The show starts peaceful enough in a little western town.  Then the bad guys ride in and start trouble.  The good townspeople are concerned, but divided.  Some want to appease the crooks, but the sheriff knows that won’t work, at least not for long.  Give in to the bad guys and they always come back for more.

Then there are the people who say, “Just shoot ‘em!”  Well, the sheriff is all about law and order, so he can’t shoot them.  He has to arrest them and give them a proper trial.

The sheriff has his work cut out for him.  He has to come up with a plan to catch the bad guys, and organize the citizens.  He has to keep some from cowering in fear, and others from forming a vigilante.

And you know the very first battle the sheriff has to fight?

With himself - because the same temptations the people struggle with also strike the sheriff.  Yes, he’d like to appease the bad guys and hope no one gets hurt.  Maybe they would even pay him off.  And he’s also thought about just shooting them.

But he has decided to live by a higher law, with no corruption - no matter what the crooks do, no matter what the people do, and no matter the personal cost.  He has a calling on his life, and he is going to live by that higher law.

Maybe it’s a guy thing, but that stirs me.  I want to be like that sheriff, a man who stands tall and strong and unmovable.  A rock.  Granite.

It doesn’t matter what the bad guys do.  It doesn’t matter what the fearful do.  It doesn’t matter which way the wind blows.  I have decided to live by a higher law, with no corruption.

And what is that higher law?

Second Timothy 1:9 says God has “saved us and called us to a holy life.”

First Thessalonians 4:7 says, “God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”

First Corinthians 1:2 says we are “called to be holy…”

First Peter 1:15 says, “…just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do…”

This is the higher law:  holiness.

Here is one way to look at it, and I’ll use a phrase that I love from Ephesians 5:3.  It says, “not even a hint.”

Let me illustrate.  We have a fenced-in backyard.  The other day a young man came over for a visit.  He brought his dog, and turned it loose in the yard. 

That night my kids had some friends over, and they were in the backyard, so I asked the young man, “Did your dog ‘do’ anything in the yard?”  He said, “I’m sure he did, but I don’t know where.”

I kept waiting for one of the girls to scream.  They never did.

Then it came time for me to mow the yard.

Now I have a riding mower, so don’t get ahead of me.

Anyway, so I’m riding along, and all of a sudden I get a whiff of something, just a hint.  And I thought, “There it is.”

That’s the way unholiness is in our lives.  People smell it.  Even if they are unholy in every way, they can still smell the slightest hint of unholiness in us.

I don’t want that.  I don’t want even a hint of unholiness.  I want to be like the sheriff, who stood strong with no corruption – no matter what was going on or what anyone else did.

A sheriff with no corruption can save a town.  Just think what a Christian can do who has no hint of unholiness.

Like I said, people can smell unholiness a mile away.  And it’s wretched.  So let’s work to eliminate it.  Let’s do what we can to live up to the call of God on our life – the call to a life of holiness.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 
By the way, your children may be the very best at sniffing out unholiness in your life.

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for
Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000

-vi-

No comments: