To listen to the radio version, click here.
To search archives, click here.
Apples of Gold
Radio Script for June 16, 2009
“Nothing Good Happens After Midnight”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
“Nothing good happens after midnight.”
That’s what I used to tell my teenagers when they wanted to stay out late.
I’d say, “When was the last time you heard a bunch of teenagers standing around a parking late in the wee hours of the morning planning good deeds? ‘I know! Let’s pick up trash in front of the school.’”
“Oh Dad, you act like we’re a bunch of bad kids.”
“No, I don’t think you’re bad kids at all. But the later it gets, the more likely you are to go along with some hair-brained idea.”
And actually, I think that’s true for all of us, not just teenagers. When we stay up too late, our inhibitions go down. Our guard falls.
I’ve told my kids that staying up late has a similar effect to drinking alcohol. You start to get loopy. You say things you wouldn’t normally say.
“But Doug, nothing fun happens before midnight!”
That’s only if you are talking about foolish fun.
A key to living a godly life is to be self-controlled. It means you are in full control of yourself – your thoughts, your words, and your actions.
But there are certain situations in which our self-control falters. And a huge one is when we are fatigued.
I have said this before. It seems like I start each day on fire for the Lord. I want to serve Him and love Him and walk in His ways. I will sacrifice my desires for His desires.
I start the day holy, but by the end of the day I’m capable of anything. Not really, but I definitely feel my batteries going down.
It’s like batteries for my force field that keeps sin and foolishness at bay. As the day progresses, I feel those batteries draining.
Proverbs 25:28 says that a man who lacks self control is like a city whose walls are broken down.
When a city’s walls are broken down, it is open to invasion. It can be plundered. The walls of protection are down, allowing invaders to come and do harm.
That is a man without self-control. He has no barrier against foolishness and sin.
So we are to be people of self-control, as the Bible says repeatedly.
For example, First Thessalonians 5:6 says “…let us be alert and self-controlled.”
It’s hard to be alert and self-controlled when you are tired and staying up too late.
I wonder how many things have been viewed on the internet late at night that would not have been viewed in broad daylight.
How many conversations have strayed off into off-limit territory?
Have you ever overreacted to a situation just because you were tired?
Over the years I’ve heard my wife say this a thousand times. She will see a child throwing a fit and what will she say? “They need a nap.”
Well grownups aren’t much different. When we are tired, our inhibitions go down. We become more selfish. We cave to our cravings.
If self-control is a force field, then it must have fully charged batteries.
“But Doug, I just have too much to do. I can’t get enough sleep.”
Well part of self-control is getting enough sleep.
“But I go to bed and I can’t sleep.”
Well I can’t diagnose every sleeping problem, but let me pick out one: stress.
A lot of people lie down and can’t sleep because all their pressures rush in and dance on their brain.
Well I found one verse years ago that really calms my brain at bedtime. It’s Psalm 4:8 which says, “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”
There are many great ways to get to sleep without medicating yourself. You can start by getting up earlier. Make sure you get enough exercise. And many people find reading a great way to relax and go to sleep.
You may not think this is an important spiritual issue, but it is. God tells us to be self-controlled. First Peter 5:8 tells us to be self-controlled because our “enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
We drop our guard to the devourer when we lack self-control, and we lack self-control when we stay up too late.
No, there’s technically nothing wrong with staying up late. And yes, I realize that good things do happen after midnight. It’s not a literal truth. It’s more like a proverb. I say nothing good happens after midnight to make a general point.
And the point is that we lack self-control when we get tired, and it is wrong to lack self-control.
So get your rest. It is a spiritual issue because we need rest to be the kind of people God wants us to be: people of self-control.
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
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:
Post a Comment