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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for November 13, 2009
“The Cost of Lost Opportunities”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Have you ever heard of the cost of lost opportunities?
Let’s say I have 20 bucks burning a hole in my pocket. I go to the mall and I’m thinking about buying a new book. But wait, there’s a cool shirt for . . . 20 dollars.
I can only pick one. Yes, the book will cost me 20 dollars, but it will also cost me something else. It will cost me the opportunity to buy the shirt.
Or let’s say the boss offers you the opportunity to work overtime tonight. If you don’t take it, you lose the chance to make extra money. But if you do take it, you lose the chance to go home and relax.
See how that works? Every choice costs you something – the cost of lost opportunities.
Here is how one farmer explained it. He has a cow. He wants that cow to have a calf in spring, and that means she needs to get pregnant the summer before.
If she doesn’t get pregnant, has he lost anything? I mean, he still has the cow. His asset total is the same. In a way, he has lost nothing. Nothing has been subtracted.
But what he lost is the opportunity to have a calf, which would grow into another cow, which could give birth to other calves, and on and on.
That is the cost of lost opportunities.
This takes a very serious turn when you think about getting married. Yes, you have the opportunity to marry someone, and it costs you the opportunity to marry someone else.
Now this might paralyze some people out there! The thought of all those lost opportunities can cripple you from making decisions.
In fact, I’ve heard of people delaying marriage for that very reason. “What if someone better comes along?”
I’ve heard of people turning down jobs because, “I’m holding out for a management position.”
So how can we handle this overwhelming thought of all the lost opportunities?
Imagine a big archery target. On the outside is a big white circle, and inside that is a black circle, then a blue circle and a red circle. You have the opportunity to hit any of those circles, but which one do you want to hit? You want to hit the yellow circle in the middle, the bull’s-eye.
When you are focused on the bull’s-eye, then you don’t care if you miss the other circles.
So what is your bull’s-eye in life? What are you shooting for? When you know this, decisions come easier and regrets are fewer.
“But Doug, I don’t think I have a bull’s-eye.”
Well, let’s find one in the Scriptures, and right now I want to focus on this word: devotion. When we are devoted to something, that is our focus, our bull’s-eye.
So according to the Bible, what should we be devoted to?
Second Corinthians 11:3 talks about a “sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
In Jeremiah 30:21 the Lord asks, “…who will devote himself to be close to Me?”
In First Chronicles, King David told his son Solomon, “…devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God.” Then he added, “…serve Him with wholehearted devotion…”
In Second Chronicles we have the example of King Jehoshaphat whose “heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord…”
Ezra “devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws…”
In Acts 2 we see that the early church “…devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Paul told Timothy to devote himself “…to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”
Titus 3 mentions this twice, that we should devote ourselves to doing what is good.
Romans 12:10 says we should be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
First Corinthians 16 lauds people who have “devoted themselves to the service of the saints.”
Yes, that’s quite a list of things to be devoted to, but it helps us in our decision making.
We are devoted to certain things, and they become our bull’s-eye. Then we don’t care if we miss the other circles.
So here is what we do. We devote ourselves to the things of God, and that takes care of the cost of lost opportunities.
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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