Doug, What Is Your Greatest Failure? - Apples of Gold - October 6, 2010 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

Click here to search the AOG archives.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for October 6, 2010

“Doug, What Is Your Greatest Failure?”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

The pastor didn’t show up.

It was Wednesday night, so the crowd was small.  Seven became 7:05 then 7:15 and still no pastor.

It was the days before cell phones, so we couldn’t just call him and say, “Where are you?” 

We were all sitting in the pews, chatting about our silly situation.  The pianist was ready to play, but our pastor was also the song leader, so now what?

We decided to have a service anyway, and I was nominated to lead.  I had never done such a thing before, so I took the path of “let’s just draw near to God and see what happens.”

We sang and prayed and asked God to lead us, to move upon us, to do something special in our special circumstance.

And He did.  The Lord moved in a mighty way that night, especially in me.  I found myself at the altar, weeping before the Almighty.

Why was I weeping?  Because the Spirit of God had stirred up a deep conviction in my heart – the conviction that I wasn’t loving people as I should, as God wanted me to.

I’ve never been the lovey-dovey type.  I’m not the cruel type, either, but I’m not the guy that goes around hugging everyone and saying how much I love them.  To me those words are a big commitment that I can only give a few people.

I think I’ve done a pretty good job of loving my wife and our children – but my grades really start to drop after that.  I say I love my other family members, but I don’t show it very well.  I’m not good at staying in contact with them. 

I maintain a minimum contact with old friends through the internet, but I wouldn’t call that loving them.  Then there are co-workers and fellow church members, people I see on a regular basis, but with whom I have little personal involvement.  And then there are the strangers, people I run into that I don’t know at all.

Yes, I am kind and cordial and professional.  I shake hands and make eye contact and smile at people.  I’ll chit-chat and treat everyone like a real human being.  I’ll be fair and generous and helpful and polite . . . but am I loving?

If you were to ask me, “Doug, what is your greatest failure?” I would have a quick and easy answer.  “Not loving people like I should.”

In Matthew 22 someone said this to Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We like to make it even shorter by saying, “Love God, love people.”

Now if it said, “Seek God and serve people,” that I can do.  I love to serve people and help them.  If I can do you some good, that’s exactly what I want to do; but do I love you?

Ephesians 5:2 tells us to live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us.  Loving people involves sacrifice and service, so to that degree I do love people.  I am willing to sacrifice and serve them; but am I doing it out of love?

I guess I’m expecting a loving feeling to come gushing up and spill out everywhere.  I’m looking for ecstatic love that flies out towards everyone.  “Hey you!  I love you!”

First John says a lot about love.  First John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God…”

Verse 8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Verse 11 says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

Verse 12 says, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

We should love one another.  We must love one another.  We are commanded to love one another.  And I believe God enables us and empowers us to love one another.  Through Him it is not only possible, it will happen. 

Here’s how I’ve seen it work in my life.  The more I draw near to God and grow in love with Him, the more He stirs up love within me for other people. 

So yes, not loving people like I should is what I believe to be my greatest failure, but with the Lord moving inside me, teaching me and discipling me, I know there is hope. 

Over time I trust that I will be able to love people just as the Lord wants me to.


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-