Apples of Gold
Radio Script for October 7, 2008
“One Unguarded Moment”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
The officer kindly gave me a slip of paper.
“69 in a 55.”
“Did you know the speed limit was 55?” he asked.
“No, I didn’t.”
And I didn’t. We were cruising down I-10 into Jacksonville Saturday, and who knew the speed limit would plunge from 70 to 55?
I guess the guy who got pulled over behind me didn’t know either.
I looked later and there are actually two signs, as big as life, “55.”
Man. Lose your focus for one minute and your wallet is considerably lighter.
And this little phrase popped into my mind, “One unguarded moment.”
How many bad things have happened in one unguarded moment?
Have you ever gotten into trouble because you opened your big mouth in one spectacular unguarded moment?
What about temptation? Nobody really cares if you don’t give in 99% of the time. It’s what happens in that one unguarded moment that counts.
Lives can be wrecked, reputations ruined, families plundered, all in one unguarded moment.
This is one reason I tell people not to drink alcohol. Even one glass means your guard is one glass lower.
It’s also why I tell young people not to stay up all night. The longer you stay awake, the lower your guard.
Life is like a minefield. There are opportunities to blow yourself up at every turn.
So what can we do? Two things.
First of all, we take the advice of Ephesians 5:15. We “walk circumspectly.”
I like that word circumspectly. It makes me think of circumference and spectator, someone looking all around in a circle.
That’s what you do in a mine field. You walk circumspectly, eyes sweeping all around, knowing that one unguarded step could be your last.
Think of a recovering alcoholic. They say to take it one day at a time. Sometimes it’s one minute at a time. You have to be on guard against taking a drink at all times. Otherwise, if you let your guard down and temptation comes along, you’ve had it.
Are there certain temptations that you think are beyond you? You don’t have to guard against them because, after all, you’re strong in that area. Then First Corinthians 10:12 is for you. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”
So walk circumspectly, even watching out for temptations you think are beyond you.
Now this thing of being on guard all the time – does that mean we have to hunker down and stay on the defensive, paranoid of everything and everybody?
That leads to my next point: walk in righteousness.
Listen to Proverbs 13:6, “Righteousness guards the man of integrity…”
I don’t have to focus on guarding myself all the time. Instead, I can concentrate my efforts on being a man of integrity, a man of righteousness. When I do that, the guarding takes care of itself. If I am always working to do the right thing, it sort of inoculates me against doing the wrong thing.
I like what it says in Psalm 101:2, “I will be careful to lead a blameless life…” To me that means that if you poke around in my life, not only will you not find anything terribly wrong, you won’t even find anything suspicious.
Yes, that’s setting the bar high, but that’s how we guard our life. We are such people of righteousness that there’s no room for the other stuff.
So has your life ever been hammered in one unguarded moment? It’s happened to all of us. We let our guard down and bam!
But the good news is that we can do something about it. We can keep the guard up and spare ourselves a lot of heartache.
That doesn’t mean we hunker down and hide. No, we get out and walk. And we keep our guard up by walking circumspectly and walking in righteousness.
And when we do that, we can avoid the trouble that comes in that one unguarded moment.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
Walk Circumspectly means watching for speed limit signs.
Walk in Righteousness means obeying them!
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(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
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