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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for March 19, 2009
“It Takes Training to Distinguish Good from Evil”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
My daughter plays volleyball.
Now I’ve played plenty of volleyball, but never with real referees.
So I watch her games, and sometimes the ref blows the whistle, stops the action, and holds up two fingers. They do it all the time, and I still don’t get it.
Oh I know what it’s called: a “double hit.” But to me a double hit is when a player hits the ball up in the air, then goes ahead and hits it again.
But that almost never happens. No, this double hit is different, almost imperceptible. Someone needs to write and tell me why this is even a rule.
It happens when a player, often a setter, pops the ball upward with two hands. For all practical purposes, it’s a single hit, a single motion, a single contact with the ball.
But I guess what happens is that the two hands don’t meet the ball at exactly the same split second. I’m guessing here, because I have seen it called hundreds of times, yet I have never, ever noticed it myself. To me it is imperceptible. I don’t even know why it’s a rule, or how it has any impact on the game other than constantly interrupting it.
But all the refs seem to know. And all the coaches seem to go along with it. And all the fans.
And the only thing I can figure is that I don’t get it because I don’t really know the game. I’ve never studied it, so I can’t tell the difference between a legal and an illegal hit, nor can I even tell why it matters.
And now listen to this. This is exactly the way most people are when it comes to distinguishing good from evil.
Yes, some evil is obvious. But much evil is subtle, almost imperceptible. If you don’t have a trained eye – now listen to this – if you don’t have a trained eye, you will think that some evil is not evil at all. You just won’t get it. You won’t even see why it matters.
And then when someone blows the whistle and says something is evil, instead of agreeing, you will just get annoyed with the whistle blower – because you don’t get it. You don’t see it, and you don’t get it.
Now here’s my question. Would you like to get it? Would you like to be able to distinguish good from evil?
Well let me tell you, it doesn’t come naturally. It’s not by osmosis.
Listen to what it says in Hebrews chapter five. It’s talking about God’s word, and it says that mature Christians, by constant use of God’s word, “have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
So how can we tell the difference between good and evil, even when it’s subtle? It comes by training ourselves with the constant use of the Word. We study the Word. We learn the Word. We memorize the Word. We apply the Word. We soak our lives in the Word.
Through our constant use of the Word, we train ourselves to distinguish good from evil.
Let me tell you, in our world today, evil can slip in almost imperceptibly. The untrained eye won’t even notice.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that. I don’t want evil slipping in on me or my family. I want a trained eye that knows the difference.
The Bible talks about the “wiles of the devil” and “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” It talks about “the trickery of men” and “the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
Yes, some evil is obvious, but much of it is cunning, deceitful, almost imperceptible. It can sneak up on us and we won’t perceive it until the damage is done.
But there is something we can do about it, and it’s found in Hebrews chapter 5.
Through the constant use of God’s word, we can train ourselves to distinguish good from evil.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 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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