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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for January 11, 2011
“Purity: Don’t Wait Until You Notice”
Hello, I’m
My friend called his college roommate a “neatnik.”
You know, like a beatnik, but with the word neat.
His roommate liked to keep everything neat and clean, apparently to the point of annoyance.
Now I am not a neatnik, but I do have my limits. There is a line, and when it’s crossed I have to take action.
For example, the toothbrush holder. My wife and I keep our toothbrushes in a cool little stand shaped like a palm tree.
So how often should one clean the toothbrush holder? A neatnik might clean it daily. Others might clean it whenever they clean the bathroom.
But this little palm tree is full of hard-to-clean ridges, so what do I do? I wait until I notice. Life goes on, and all of a sudden I look down one day and say, “Wow, that thing needs to be cleaned.”
How often do you clean your computer keyboard? You probably use it every day and don’t pay much attention. Then one day it dawns on you, “Oh my goodness, that thing looks like it was pulled out of a grain bin.”
Now you might be thinking, “I wouldn’t be caught dead with a dirty keyboard.” Okay, then let me ask you this. How clean is the fan inside your computer? A dirty keyboard may look bad, but a dirty fan can lead to computer failure.
And that’s the way we are with ourselves. We tend to clean up the things on the outside that everyone can see, but ignore the things on the inside which are critical to the operation.
I could ask you how often you clean inside your computer, but let me ask you this. How often do you clean inside yourself, spiritually speaking? When was your last real internal cleansing before God?
I suspect that it’s like me and the toothbrush holder. You wait until you notice. We don’t really think about coming clean with God until we feel guilty or ashamed, or cross a big moral line.
Then we notice. Then we come running to the Lord for a cleansing.
But that is not the best way.
When I was in college, at every church service we had a time of repentance, a time to come clean before God. Many churches don’t do that, but maybe this one figured, “Hey, these college kids, they probably have a lot to repent for.”
I liked it because it was a good reminder to come clean with God, even if I didn’t feel particularly guilty about anything. Then I would go about my business until the next service; but here’s the thing. God doesn’t have a threshold like we do. We can let sin build up until we finally hit a threshold and say, “Wow, I need to get clean.”
God’s desire is purity. We are to be pure, holy, righteous.
And how much impurity does it take to be impure? One little speck. If something has any impurities at all, it is not pure.
Ivory Soap used to advertise that it was “99 and 44/100ths percent pure.” The thing is, it wasn’t pure because the only purity is 100%.
So if we let our impurities pile up, we can’t possibly have a close walk with God.
Purity: we can’t wait until we notice.
We need to be proactive about keeping clean before the Lord.
James 4:8 says, “…purify your hearts…”
First Timothy
How can we do that? With the powerful cleansing agent described in First John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This should be a regular habit. We consistently come clean with God, confess our sins, repent, and receive His forgiveness.
How often do you clean the inside of your windshield? It’s dangerous to wait until you notice.
And when it comes to purity, we shouldn’t wait until we notice.
Instead we need to come clean with God regularly, purifying ourselves through Jesus Christ, so that we can walk with Him as close as we possibly can.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m
© 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 App
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for
(850) 926-8000
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