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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for March 16, 2010
“I Love Stories About Time Travel”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
I’ve always been fascinated by stories of time travel.
No, I don’t think time travel is possible. I think it’s absurd, but it makes great fiction.
And here’s one thing most time travel stories have in common, a sober warning about changing the past. If you change the past in any way it may trigger a chain reaction that radically alters the future.
For example, if you go back in time and move one book in the library. If you take one book off the shelf and leave it out on a table, it changes the world. Someone is likely to see that book that would not have seen it otherwise. They are influenced and their life shifts, thus shifting all the lives around them.
People end up marrying different people. Completely different children are born. Soon the world is a very different place, all because of one action by the time traveler.
As I said, I think time travel is absurd, but some people take it very seriously. Here is what one person wrote about time travel and the risk of changing history. “The dangers are so obvious,” they said, “it seems unbelievable that anybody would ever be willing to take such a risk.”
Okaaay. Well let’s say it’s true. If you go back in time and change one thing, you are in danger of changing the world. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Move one library book and shazam.
But what about the library today? What if you walk in the library right now, take one book off the shelf and leave it on the table. Are you in danger of radically changing the world? Does the whole world shift because of your one action?
I think it does! Everything we do shifts the world. It may not even be noticeable, but when one person shifts, it shifts those around them, who shift those around them, and so on.
Listen. People end up marrying different people, and completely different children are born!
When I moved my family to Tallahassee a few years ago, I knew it would shift the world. Two of my children have married since then, and they married Tallahassee people. And now completely different children will be born than would have been born had we stayed in Illinois.
Do you see my point?
If going back in time and changing one thing is a really big deal – then everything you do today is a really big deal!
Just because you aren’t a time traveler doesn’t mean you aren’t radically altering the future. You are! Everything you do matters!
Here is an illustration you will find several times in the Bible, such as in Galatians 5:9. It says, “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”
It’s also mentioned in First Corinthians 5 where we find a great illustration of this point. In the Corinthian church there was a man living in sexual immorality. Instead of properly dealing with his sin, apparently they were almost proud of his conquest.
They were allowing this man to sin openly and obviously and yet remain in the church, as if what he was doing was okay.
Now remember the point of today’s lesson. What we do matters because it influences others and thus changes the world.
Well the Corinthians were allowing this man to sin openly and unrebuked in the church, so Paul used this illustration. First Corinthians 5 says, “Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast…”
Paul wrote that it’s one thing to have immoral people all around you in the world. You really can’t help that. But you must be careful who you allow to be an influence in the church. Verse 11 says “…you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.”
And then Paul gives the conclusion of the matter in verse 13. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
Why? Because a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.
The King James English says it more poetically, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
Well you are a little bit of leaven today. How will you influence the lump?
If a fictional time traveler can go back in time, do one thing, and radically alter the future – just think what we can do in real life today.
I’ll close with Ephesians 5:15 which says, “Be very careful…how you live…”
Why?
Because what we do matters.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2010 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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