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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for January 3, 2011
“The Poison in Your Past”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
At 65 years of age, it still poisoned her life.
She had been married for decades, yet she was still haunted by what occurred right after the wedding.
On that day, she said, “I felt all the honest pride of my soul was laid low forever.”
At one point she wrote a piece about her life and called it “Adventures of a Nobody.” In it she wrote this bitter sentence: “It is 43 years since I became a wife and yet the rankling sore is not healed which then broke upon my heart of hearts, it was the blight of every future prospect and has hung like an incubus upon my spirit.”
An incubus is a demon, by the way. Louisa let this demon, this blight, this “rankling sore” fester in her life for 43 years.
Now what about you? Is there some rankling sore in your own past that continues to poison your present?
Louisa was born in London to a wealthy American and his English wife. She was raised in France, and there, when she was only four years old, she met for the first time her future husband, an American boy traveling with his father.
Louisa’s family returned to England, and when she was 22 she married John; and it was no ordinary marriage. Louisa’s wealthy father was now an American consul in London, and John’s father was the President of the United States. The wedding was held on July 26th, 1797.
So far, so good, right? She married a most prominent bachelor, a rising star, the son of the second President.
Sounds like a pretty solid foundation, but this marriage of equals suddenly became very unequal when her father’s business failed. The family was bankrupt, Louisa had no dowry, and there was a whiff of scandal in the air. Perhaps she had lured John Quincy Adams into a rushed marriage under false pretenses.
When she was 50 years old, and the First Lady of the United States, Louisa still agonized about it. Listen to what she wrote in this memoir to her children: “Conceive my dear sons the shock I underwent, every appearance was against me; actions proceeding from the most innocent causes looked the deliberate plans to deceive…”
Cokie Roberts shared this story in her book “Ladies of Liberty,” and she came to this conclusion about Louisa Adams: “This was a woman who clearly saw every ounce of pride slip down the drain with her father’s fortunes.”
To me, it’s a sad story because she let an incident she was not responsible for poison her life. And even if you are responsible, you can’t let your past poison you like that.
Now what about you? Do have a rankling sore from the past that continues to poison your present?
The Apostle Paul did, at least he could have. He persecuted and even killed Christians before becoming one himself. It could have become a horror that maimed him for life; and in his case it was his own doing.
But listen to this powerful attitude he took toward the things in his past. He wrote in Philippians 3, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Did you catch that? He said, “…one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind…”
Louisa Adams could have used that advice. She probably would have been a better wife, a better First Lady. Maybe John Quincy Adams would have been a better husband, a better president. Maybe he would have won a second term, if only his wife hadn’t been laid low by some incident in the past.
And what about you? Has something in your past laid you low and kept you there? Do you think that is God’s calling and destiny for your life?
It certainly is not. If you are a born again Christian, you are a child of God, and the future is bright.
Listen to Second Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
If you have sinned, come to Jesus for forgiveness. If others have sinned against you, then with Jesus’ help, forgive them.
Then follow the advice of Philippians chapter three: forget what is in the past, and press on toward what God has for you in the future.
Let Him who began a good work in you carry it on to completion.
Now I’m thinking of the song by Chris Tomlin, “My chains are gone. I’ve been set free. My God, my Savior has ransomed me.”
Don’t let the past poison you like poor Louisa Adams.
As we start the new year 2011, let’s forget the past and press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
(close with “My Chains Are Gone” by Chris Tomlin)
You can read the story about Louisa Adams here, starting on page 101: http://books.google.com/books?id=QHvWI2rYXmAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
© 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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