Click here to listen to the radio version.
Click here to search the AOG archives.
Apples of Gold
Radio Script for April 19, 2010
“What You Guard the Most – That Is What You Treasure”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Do you want to know what is really important to you?
I don’t mean what you say is important, but what actually is important to you.
Here’s one way to tell. What do you guard the most?
See, we guard what we treasure. What we value the most we put high walls around.
For example, I know a lot of people say the Bible is important. They say it’s important to read and study the Bible.
But here’s the real test. How well do they guard their Bible study time?
If lots of things supersede their Bible study time, then they aren’t guarding it very well, which means it’s not so important after all.
You might say your marriage is important, but if so, how well are you guarding it?
You guard what you treasure, so if you treasure your marriage, you will guard it.
If you treasure your children, you will guard them and protect them.
If you treasure time with your children, then you will guard that time.
See how this measurement works? It’s a simple way to see what you really value the most, because what you guard is what you value.
Think of a bank. The cash is well guarded, but the pens aren’t.
Think of a football player. He has cloth on his arm and hard plastic on his head.
Do you think prayer is important? If so, then how well do you protect your prayer time?
How well you protect something shows how important you really think it is.
How important are your family pictures? To me they are really important, which is proved by the great efforts I’ve made to protect them. I have scanned all my favorite old photos, so now if some tragedy happens like a fire or a leaky roof and it destroys the actual prints, I still have them as digital files.
How important is your health? Oh I know everyone says it’s important, but what are you doing to guard it? If you don’t guard it, then it’s not as important as you say it is.
Some people will guard against the pain of going to the dentist more than they will guard their dental health.
So the question is, what are you guarding? The things you put the most guards around are the things you value most.
I value time with my wife, and I put a guard around that time. I know that if I don’t spend adequate time with my wife, it will hurt our marriage. We will drift apart. So because I highly value my marriage, I put a guard around our time together.
What I’m talking about here is a way to analyze yourself. Sometimes we live in self-deceit. We think we are something that we aren’t.
Romans 12:3 tells us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but to think of ourselves “with sober judgment.”
At church I found myself talking to a young man about his education. He said he might go to a secular college and study theology. Someone said, “I know two people who did that and they both lost their faith. They were Christians going in, but now they aren’t even serving God.”
What was my two cents’ worth? I said, “I would not put myself in a position where my faith would be constantly attacked. My faith is precious to me so I wouldn’t do it.”
My integrity is important, so I guard it.
My word is important, so I guard it.
My name is important, so I guard it.
Hiding the Word of God in my heart is important to me, so I guard my efforts to memorize scripture. Other things try to sneak in and steal my time and motivation, so I have to guard it.
Church work is important to me, even church attendance, so I guard it.
My exercise time is important to me, so I guard it.
How can you tell what you guard the most? One way is by checking how much time and money you spend on something. Where your time and money go is probably where your treasure is, and that is probably what you are guarding the most.
Know thyself. That’s another way of saying Romans 12:3, which says “think of yourself with sober judgment.”
And one good way to do that is to check and see what you are guarding the most.
See, it really doesn’t matter what you say is important to you. You need to find out what really is important to you, and here is a good way to measure it.
What you guard the most – that is what you treasure.
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
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