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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for September 10, 2009
“Do the Hard Thing”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
“Do the hard thing.”
I just sent that in a text message to my daughter.
It’s something I say a lot to my children, usually when they are trying to get out of something.
Maybe they don’t feel well. Maybe they just don’t feel like doing it.
That’s when it’s my job as Dad to step in and say, “Just do it.”
“But it’s hard.”
“Yes it’s hard. So do the hard thing.”
One hundred and ten years ago Theodore Roosevelt delivered a speech at the Hamilton Club in Chicago entitled “The Strenuous Life.”*
Roosevelt said, “I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes…to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil…”
The strenuous life – that’s interesting coming from Roosevelt.
Oh I know, you’re probably thinking of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, or Roosevelt the big game hunter. Living a strenuous life sounds like a perfect fit for him.
But did you know that, as a child, Roosevelt was not healthy? He had asthma and was in poor physical condition. Then as a young man, due to heart problems, his doctor told him to find a desk job and to – get this – avoid strenuous activity.
But Roosevelt decided to do the hard thing. Instead of taking it easy, he did the opposite. He exercised and took up tennis and hiking and rowing and polo and horseback riding. As governor of New York, and even as President, he actually spent time boxing until a punch left him blind in one eye.
So when Roosevelt said, “I wish to preach…the doctrine of the strenuous life…” he was his own best example.
This morning I was reading about a man in the Bible who did not shy away from the strenuous life: Daniel.
If anyone was justified in going along with the flow, it was Daniel. Here he was, a young captive in a foreign country.
Then he was chosen to serve the king of Babylon. He went into training, learned from the best teachers, and was even served food and drink from the king’s table.
“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine…” it says in Daniel 1:8.
That’s what I’m talking about. That is doing the hard thing.
He could have just “went along,” but instead he did the hard thing.
The rest of verse eight says that he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself with the king’s food and drink.
No big deal, right? But wait. In verse 10 we find that the chief official feared for his life! If Daniel turned up looking less than fit, he said the king would have his head!
So here was Daniel, sacrificing his own pleasure, risking the king’s disapproval, and risking the life of the chief official – who probably had the power to do whatever he wanted to Daniel!
But Daniel made the bold move anyway, based on his conviction that, even though it was the hard thing, it was also the right thing.
And now comes the most exciting part of the story!
Verse 9 says that God caused the official to show favor to Daniel.
Daniel didn’t know it, but God was working behind the scenes on his behalf. Daniel stepped out to do the hard thing, and the official helped him, because God caused the official to show favor to Daniel.
Proverbs 12:2 says, “A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but the Lord condemns a crafty man.”
If we take the wrong way, we end up with disfavor from the Lord. But when we take the right way we obtain favor from the Lord.
That’s what happened to Daniel. He took the right way, even though it was the hard way, and God granted him favor!
And that is just what I expect from the Lord in my own life. And you can, too!
So take on the challenge. Live the strenuous life. Don’t just sit back and take the easy way, the lazy way, the do-nothing way.
Be inspired by Daniel. Step out and just do it!
And know this. The Lord is working behind the scenes on your behalf, and favor will rise to meet you – as you do the hard thing.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
You can read the entire speech here: http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trstrenlife.html
© 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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