Alcohol Hinders Holiness - Apples of Gold - February 7, 2011 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for February 7, 2011

“Alcohol Hinders Holiness”

 

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

“So what do you think about Christians drinking alcohol?”

That’s what someone asked my Sunday school teacher.

He said, “The Bible doesn’t expressly forbid the drinking of all alcohol, but I don’t drink and here’s why.”

He went on to make what I thought was a great case for Christians to avoid alcohol.

In Leviticus chapter 10, God spoke to the first high priest Aaron and gave him very specific standards for the priests concerning alcohol.  Verses nine through eleven say, “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die.  It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.”

Here was my teacher’s point.  According to Leviticus, the priests were not to drink any alcohol before serving the Lord.  In the New Testament we are now the priests, according to First Peter 2:9 which calls us the “royal priesthood.”  And we are to always be serving the Lord, in season and out of season.  There is never a time when we are “off” from serving the Lord.  My teacher concluded that as a priest who is always on duty, he is to never drink alcohol.

I have never heard that teaching before, but I like it.

And I like the reasons given in Leviticus 10, “…that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean…”

Alcohol diminishes your ability to distinguish.  We are to be holy, but alcohol cuts down our ability to tell what is holy and what isn’t. 

“But Doug, I just have a drink to take the edge off.”

Oh?  To take the edge off of what?  To take the edge off your thinking, right?  You have stress, you have worries, you have burdens; your mind is full of unpleasant things, so you drink to take the edge off your thinking.

But if you take the edge off your thinking, then you are doing the exact thing the Bible is talking about – lowering your ability to discern.

It is harder to be holy with alcohol in your system.

Now if you don’t care about being holy, well this message isn’t for you anyway.  But if you are a Bible-believing Christian, then you should care about holiness, and one thing that hinders holiness is alcohol.

“But Doug, the Bible just says to avoid drunkenness.”

Yes, we are to avoid drunkenness, that is plain and repetitive in Scripture; but more than that, we are to be sober.  First Thessalonians compares the people of the light to the people of the darkness.  The people of the darkness get drunk, but what do the people of light do?  It says “…let us watch and be sober…”  Then it says again in verse eight, “But let us who are of the day be sober…”

First Peter 1:13 says that our minds are to be alert, and we are to be fully sober.  That doesn’t sound like a mind that has had its edge removed with alcohol.

Yesterday was the Super Bowl.  Do you think either team dealt with the nerves by passing around a bottle of Jack in the locker room, or did they keep their minds alert and fully sober?

“But my life is no Super Bowl, Doug.  It’s just not that important that I be fully sober all the time.

Okay, well here is one more “be sober” from the Bible.  See if this sounds important.  First Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

“Doug, I don’t think these verses are about alcohol.  I think they just mean be ‘sober minded.’”

Yes!  Be sober minded!  Be sharp!  Be on your toes.  Be on your guard.  Be alert because your adversary is going to sneak up on you like a lion.

How many drinks do you want your babysitter to have before she drives your kids to the beach?  How about none.  Why?  Because you want her to be fully alert when she drives your precious children around.  One drink will chip one layer of sobriety from her mind, one level of the ability to distinguish.  That may have been the level that kept her from texting while driving.  That may have been the level that kept her from trying to beat that train.  That may have been the level that kept her focused on watching the kids in the water instead of letting her mind wander.

Be sober, because our enemy is on the prowl, the Bible says.

Here is something I say often.  One drink makes you one drink less sober.

One drink makes you a one-level-easier target for the enemy than you were before that drink.

“Why does it even matter?”

Why did it matter what the priests did?  Why did God specifically and pointedly spell out His anti-alcohol rules for the priests who were serving?

So they could distinguish between the holy and unholy, the clean and the unclean.

So this role of alcohol in your life – I don’t know what part you think it’s playing, but I do know this.  It was forbidden of the serving priests because of something we all know to be true.

Alcohol diminishes the ability to distinguish.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.



© 2011 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-

This is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life - Apples of Gold - February 4, 2011 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for February 4, 2011

“This is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life”

 

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

“This is the first day of the rest of your life.”

I love that line from the song “Hold Us Together” by Matt Maher.  (pronounced Mar)

It’s like an anthem at the end of the song, “This is the first day of the rest of your life.”

All that old baggage?  Kiss it goodbye.  That was the old me.

The old has gone, the new has come!  (Second Corinthians 5:17)

“Yeah, but what about…?”

I have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.  (Colossians 3:9-10 and Ephesians 4:22-24)

“Well, I don’t have to trust you.”

No, that’s okay.  I don’t even trust myself.  I’m putting all my trust in Jesus.  I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.  (Philippians 4:13)

And this is the first day of the rest of my life.

“What about all the people you have to please?”

I don’t have to “please” anyone except my Savior, but through Him I have the privilege to love people, and He gives me an inexhaustible supply of love to love them with.

I love and serve people with joy because of Christ in me!

“Are you afraid?”

Perfect love casts out fear, and I have access to the perfect love of God through the Holy Spirit inside me.  (First John 4:18)

Love is the power position.  When you love people, you don’t have to fear them because love puts you in the power position.

I fear no man, only God.  In God I have put my trust, and I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?  (Psalm 56:11)

I am not afraid, but I am excited, because this is the first day of the rest of my life!

I am not my own.  I was bought with a price, and I am important.  (First Corinthians 6:20)

I offer up my body as a living sacrifice to my Lord and Savior.  (Romans 12:1)

Here I am, Lord.  I am Yours, fully and completely.  Take me and use me as Your own. 

“What about your old ways of thinking?”

I have the mind of Christ!  (First Corinthians 2:16)

I set my mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  (Colossians 3:2)

Through Christ my mind is renewed!  (Romans 12:2)

And this is the first day of the rest of my life!

“What about all the obstacles?  What about the aggravations, even the enemies in your way?”

I walk by faith and not by sight.  (Second Corinthians 5:7)

My faith is in my Savior Jesus Christ who loved me and gave Himself for me.  (Colossians 2:5 and Galatians 2:20)

I walk in the Spirit, with the Comforter teaching me all things.  (Galatians 5:16 and John 14:26)

My mind will explode with new ideas and insights as the Holy Spirit, that living water, bubbles up inside me.  (John 7:38-39)

“But you are weak.”

Ha!  Good!  When I am weak, He is strong!  (Second Corinthians 12:9)

His Spirit rises up within me and flexes the same might He used to raise Christ from the dead!  (Ephesians 1:18-21)

And, in a sense, He raises me from the dead every day, to lead a new life with Him. 

This is the day that the Lord has made!  I will rejoice and be glad in it!  (Psalm 118:24)

For this really is the first day of the rest of my life!


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

(close with the bridge from “Hold Us Together” by Matt Maher)


© 2011 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-

Are You Like a Kid in a Car Seat? - Apples of Gold - February 3, 2011 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for February 3, 2011

“Are You Like a Kid in a Car Seat?”

 

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

When I was a boy, car seats for kids just hung on the back of the seat.

There was no strapping them in, and they were barely padded.

Sure, they lacked safety, but they made up for it with a little steering wheel.  The child could sit in his car seat and drive, just like Daddy.

Have you ever seen kids imitate driving?  They ball up their little fists and jerk their hands up and down like they’re milking a cow.  They’ll make engine noises, then comes the inevitable squealing of the tires.  Of course when you jerk the steering wheel like that, there’s bound to be some tire squealing.

Now blink your eyes and those same kids are suddenly in driver’s ed.  That’s a scary thought.  Yesterday they were begging for a Kit Kat and now they’re begging for the keys.

How on earth are these kids going to go from play driving to real driving?  Well that’s where driver’s ed comes in. 

One thing you learn in driver’s ed is the importance of the “long view.”  New drivers are prone to lean heavily on the short view.  They only look just a few feet around the car.

And what happens when you rely on the short view?  You end up driving like a little kid, jerking the wheel back and forth just to stay in your lane.  It’s a dangerous way to drive.

So in driver’s ed we learn the importance of the long view.  We are told to look down the road, which is a bit counterintuitive because how can we tell where we’re going if we don’t look right in front of us?

Once you are an experienced driver, though, you realize that most of the time you are taking the long view.  When you take the long view, you barely have to turn the wheel, and you never make jerky steering motions like little kids.

Why not?  Because the long view makes it very easy to drive straight and keep the car on the road with only minor course adjustments.

Now listen to this.  Some people live their lives like a kid with a steering wheel.  They go this way, then that.  They are here, then there.  They are serial daters.  They change their major five times.  They marry and divorce.  They binge and purge.  They lose 30 pounds and gain 40.  They bounce from job to job or church to church. 

What they are missing is the long view.  When you take the long view, you barely have to turn the wheel.  Your course corrections are minor. 

For example, when I got married, I took the long view.  I pictured my wife and I growing old together, with children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, all gathered around us as a strong family unit. 

That was the long view of my family, and as I drove along, day after day, minute by minute, I kept that view in mind. 

Other men took the short view of their family.  They just thought about this moment, “What will make me feel good right now?”  That left them jerking the steering wheel like a little kid, reacting to each little thing in front of them, and leaving many of their family members in the ditch.

Mike Floyd was the man who hired me at this radio station.  He also ran a sign company, and he had the long view for that company.  He wanted to honor God, and one way he did that was by not selling signs for things like gambling or alcohol or tobacco.  If he only took the short view, he would have done whatever he could, moment by moment, to make money.  He would have jerked that steering wheel in whatever direction led to the most profit at that instant.  But instead, he took the long view of building a business that honored God, and he would tell you that God honored that decision with long-term success.

In Tallahassee we seem to have a lot of bank robberies.  Recently a man got away with $20,000.  Wow!  How long do you have to work to get $20,000?  Oh wait.  They caught him and now he’s in jail for 25 years. 

Everyday in Tallahassee people are arrested and thrown into jail.  What were they thinking?  Well they definitely weren’t thinking about the long view.

I read all the time about guys being arrested for child pornography, or for soliciting a minor online who turned out to be a cop.  What were they thinking?  Did their long view of life include prison and shame? 

Are you a parent?  What is your long view of parenting?  You need to fix that in your mind and steer steadily in that direction.

My long view of parenting is that my children will be self-sufficient citizens with their own close walk with God and a good relationship with me.  So, long ago, I pointed my car in that direction, and I make my decisions accordingly.  First of all, I model it for them by being a self-sufficient citizen myself, with my own close walk with God and a good relationship with my children.

See how that works?  I have had to make very few course corrections over my years of parenting because I started with that long view in mind. 

Some people have the mindset of just living in the moment.  There are a lot of songs out there that tell us to live like we’re dying, this moment is all we have, party like it’s 1999. 

I’m not saying we shouldn’t enjoy the moments.  In fact, the moments will be more enjoyable as we take the long view of life and make our decisions accordingly.

Now here’s the real long view.  One day I am going to stand before God, and on that day, what will I wish I had done?

That is my true long view.  My car is pointed toward eternity, and I’m making my decisions accordingly.

So…are you taking the long view of life, or the short view?  If you aren’t sure, watch how you handle the steering wheel. 

People with the long view know where they are going and only need to make minor corrections to get there.

But people with the short view, they hardly think about the future, and they end up jerking the steering wheel all over the place, like a little kid in a car seat.


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-

It's Time to Detassel - Apples of Gold - January 31, 2011 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for January 31, 2011

“It’s Time to Detassel”

 

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

If you grew up in the Midwest, you probably know about “detasseling.”

A lot of kids earn their first real money by detasseling corn.

It’s a simple but sweaty job as a team walks through the field and pulls the tassely top off the corn stalks.

Why on earth would you do that?

The tassel produces pollen, and farmers want to control it.  For example, they may plant three rows of one variety of corn, and one row of another variety.  Then a detasseling team will pull the tassels off the three rows, leaving the one row to pollinate them all. 

In this way they create a corn “hybrid” which is better.  So farmers use detasseling to control crosspollination and produce better results.

When you hear “crosspollination” you might think of bees.  Bees carry pollen from plant to plant, and are powerful players in pollination.

“Thanks for the science lesson, professor, but what does this have to do with me?”

In the same way there is crosspollination in the plant world, there is crosspollination among humans.  I’m talking about human ideas and behavior, the things we believe and build our lives on.

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why do I speak the way I do?”  It has everything to do with the language pollen that was dropped on you, starting with your parents and spreading out to your family, friends, school and media influences.

Why do you dress the way you do?  If you wear a silk tie around your neck everyday, it’s because someone dropped the silk tie pollen on you.  If you wear your pants below your rear end, and you have to keep one hand busy all day holding them up, it’s because someone dropped some rear end pollen on you.

Why do you say “ain’t”?  Why do you eat with a napkin in your lap?  Why do you wear a cowboy hat?  Why do you put on cologne?  Why do you drive a hybrid car? 

We do so many things because at some time someone pollinated us with those ideas. 

The other day I was working on a project with an older man and a younger man.  The older man told the younger man, “Whatever you do, don’t take out school loans.  I did that and I regret it.  Work hard.  Find grants.  Pay as you go, but don’t take out loans.”

That’s one example of the crosspollination of ideas that takes place millions of times a minute all over the world.  That was just one bit of pollen, and it will probably stick with the young man.

When I was young, I was told that a necktie should hit right in the middle of your belt buckle.  It should never be lower than or higher than your buckle.  I see men wear ties all over the place, long ties and short ties, and you are free to wear your tie wherever you want, but I will think it’s wrong because the tie pollen that got to me was “it must hit the middle of your buckle.”

It is important for us to be aware of this pollination process because we receive pollen deposits all day long.

Last week I took someone to the doctor and got a belly full of current events from the TV in the waiting room.  At one point the main reporter brought up homosexual marriage, which he was totally for.  Then he brought in a special reporter, and the special reporter was a more rabid supporter of gay marriage than the host.  Then they brought in a third person, a “conservative,” they said, to provide balance.  Well that guy varied little from the host’s opinion, so you ended up with three powerful pollen guns, all blasting out pro-gay-marriage pollen across the nation.

If you just sit back and let anyone and everyone dump their pollen on you, that is what they call “open pollination.” 

Now let’s go back to the detasseling story.  Why do those farmers detassel?  Because they do not want open pollination.  It makes corn weaker, more prone to disease and produces lower yields.  Instead they strictly control the pollination in order to produce stronger corn. 

I try to beware of the “idea pollination” in my own life.  For example, I don’t listen to secular music.  I know that music can have a powerful influence on me, so I control that influence.  I want music to point me towards higher things, towards the Lord and a deeper walk with Him.  To reach those goals, I “detassel” the music from my life that might lead me elsewhere.

Many people practice “open pollination” when it comes to their music.  They listen to anything and everything, but let me ask you this.  Can a person have that much pollen poured over them and not be affected?

Think about this when it comes to the people you hang out with.  They will constantly be dumping pollen on you.  The question is, is that the pollen you want?  Are their values and goals going to make you stronger or weaker? 

Jesus made a point like this in Mark 8:15 when He said, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”  The Pharisees and King Herod were pollinators, and Jesus warned about their influence.

What we watch, what we read, who we listen to – all of these are pollinators, and they have a profound impact on us.

So take a good look at the pollinators in your life, identify the ones that need to go, then detassel them out of your life.

Detasseling – it controls crosspollination and produces better results.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

On the flip side, we should become the pollinators!  Jesus said we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, so get out there and cross-pollinate for the cross!

© 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-

Here's Something That Really is "of the Devil" - Apples of Gold - January 27, 2011 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for January 27, 2011

“Here’s Something That Really is ‘of the Devil’”

 

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

Have you ever heard someone say that something is “of the devil”?

For example, “Communism is of the devil,” or “rock music is of the devil” or “television is of the devil.”

Some people see the devil behind everything they’re against, and others don’t believe in the devil at all.

The Bible, though, talks a lot about such an entity, calling him Satan, the devil, the evil one, the wicked one, the “serpent of old.”  What you won’t find in the Bible is a neat laundry list of things that are “of the devil.”

But here is one thing that Jesus flat out stated is “from the evil one.”  It’s from the Sermon on Mount, in Matthew chapter five.  Listen closely to Jesus’ teaching.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’  But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.  But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”

There it is, something that is of the devil.  Jesus said it’s “from the evil one.”

What is?  Listen again to the end of that teaching.  “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”

When you boil it down, He’s talking about the truthfulness of what we say.  When we say “yes,” it better mean yes, and when we say “no,” it better mean no.  Anything beyond that is actually of the devil.

You can point your finger at a lot of things out there and say, “That is of the devil,” but here is something that really is of the devil, and that’s when your word isn’t rock solid true.

When you say something, it better be true.  When you commit to something, it should be as good as done.  When you give your word, people should be able to count on it as final, a done deal.  He said it, and that’s that. 

Sometimes people say to me, “Oh, you should meet so-and-so.  He’s a powerful man of God.”

Good!  And I have a question.  Does he keep his word?

If someone doesn’t keep their word, you better take a good, long look to see if they really are a man or woman of God. 

“Oh, Doug, that’s just the way some people are.”

Of course it is!  That’s just the way a lot of people are, and it’s of the devil, so listen.  Isn’t it a strange mix, to say that someone is a powerful person of God, but they don’t keep their word?

“Well Doug, have you ever not kept your word?”

Yes I have, and I repent of it.  I know how easy it is to just babble off any old thing in the moment; but it’s not right, and I despise it.  I turn from it.  I ask God’s forgiveness.

There’s an old fashioned saying that says, “My word is my bond.”

Say it out loud and see if you don’t feel the strength of it:  “My word is my bond.”

Let your yes be yes and your no be no…period.  Anything beyond that is of the evil one.

“Doug, I have a friend who says a lot of stuff, but I know they don’t really mean it.  They just talk a lot.”

So, what you’re saying is that their very reputation is that their word is no good, is that what you’re telling me?  Because if that’s the case, that’s sad.

Oh wait.  It’s more than sad.  It’s of the devil.

Now some of you think that sounds funny, me saying “it’s of the devil.”  Why am I saying that? 

Because Jesus said it, and here’s where I think He was coming from.  In John 8:44 Jesus said that the devil is the “father of lies.” 

Satan is the father of deception, and we act like his children when we don’t keep our word.  When we are untruthful – anytime we step off that straight and narrow path of speaking only what is true – we are like the devil.

Ephesians 6:11 talks about “the wiles of the devil.”  One of the wiles of the devil is to make us think keeping our word isn’t all that important.

Well it’s important to God!  Look what Jesus said in Matthew 12:36:  “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

We’ve all spoken errant, idle words, so we need to repent.  We need to put off the old man with his deeds, like it says in Colossians three, and be renewed in the spirit of our mind. 

We can do this, through the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us! 

We can become men and women of God, who always speak the truth, whose yes is yes and no is no, and who never, ever say those things which really are of the devil.


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-

How Can God Work On You If You Won't Stay Put? - Apples of Gold - January 25, 2011 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

Click here to search the AOG archives.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for January 25, 2011

“How Can God Work On You If You Won’t Stay Put?”

 

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

Do you know what a vise is?

It has two heavy metal sides that crank together and hold things so you can work on them.

For example, I had a machine screw that was too long, so I used the vise to hold it steady while I sawed it.

The problem was, the screw kept moving.  It’s really hard to work on something if it won’t stay put.

I think the same thing happens to us sometimes.  We find ourselves in a vise, and life begins putting the saw to us.  The exact thing we do not want to do is stay put.  We will do whatever we can to get out of that vise and away from the saw.

But listen to James chapter one, verses two through four.  “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

The end result is being perfect and complete.  We will be better than ever when the trial is over; but we have to let it do its work, and that means staying put.

Take marriage, for example.  There have certainly been times of discomfort in our marriage, and what is the natural reaction to discomfort?  Pull away from it. 

So when our marriage grew uncomfortable, why didn’t we pull away?

It was due to our commitment.  Our vow to stay together was the vise that kept us from pulling apart, and by staying put, the trials were able to work on us and make us better.

Are you following the illustration?  The vise holds you in place so the tool can do its work.  The tool is the trial and the commitment is the vise.

If we run from trials, they cannot do their work, and we will never improve.

That’s where the vise of commitment comes in.  Your commitment holds you in place so the trials can do their work.

It works in marriage, and it works at work.  Have you ever met someone who quit their job at the first sign of discomfort?  People like that don’t grow because they won’t stay put.  They run from the trial so the trial can’t work on them.

Some people, though, are committed to their work.  That commitment becomes the vise that holds them in place when trials come along; and those are the people that grow and mature and become the best workers.

Then there is parenting.  That’s a job full of trials, but most parents are deeply committed to their children.  When trials come along, they stay put due to their commitment, and the trials make them better.  But the parents who do flee the responsibility?  Look at them.  They are about the least mature people you will ever meet because they refuse to stay put and let the trials mature them.

I see this in church congregations.  Some people hop from church to church because at every church they experience discomfort.  They flee as soon as a trial begins, and this stunts their growth.  On the other hand, some people are committed to their church, and that commitment becomes the vise that holds them steady while trials make them stronger.

We stressed commitment as we raised our children.  If they wanted to join a team, for example, we told them that once they started, they couldn’t quit.  Yes, trials might make them want to quit, but we forced them to make a commitment, and that commitment kept them in place during the trials.  And to me it’s obvious how that will build a child’s character.

This applies to all kinds of commitments.  When you commit to keep your word, or honor your parents, or be a man of integrity – every vow and every decision becomes a vise that holds you in place.  Then trials come along and, due to your commitment, you stand fast and the trial makes you stronger.

The person without commitments, however, has no vise to hold them steady.  When trials come, they pull away.  They think it’s good that they are escaping the trial, but it’s actually stunting their growth because trials bring maturity.

Isaiah 48:10 says, “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”

Zechariah 13 talks about being put into the fire and being refined and tested.

Yes, there are some situations we should flee from, such as violence, but the general rule is to hang in there when the going gets tough, because it’s that very toughness that refines us into better people.

In fact, we should count it all joy when we face various trials, according to James chapter one.

So we face them, square on, and when we feel like squirming away, we let our commitments become the vise that holds us in place, “that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”


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-

You Might Be Covetous If... - Apples of Gold - January 24, 2011 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

Click here to search the AOG archives.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for January 24, 2011

“You Might Be Covetous If…”

 

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

Thou shalt not covet.

Everyone knows that, right?

It’s in the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house or his wife or his servants or his animals; and just when you think you’re safe it says, “Nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

And lest you relegate that to the Old Testament, Ephesians 5:3 says don’t even let covetousness be named among you.  It’s not fitting for saints.

What exactly is coveting?

Billy Graham said, “Coveting is an attitude.  When we desire something that belongs to someone else, that’s coveting.”*

When you covet something, you desire it greatly, you lust after it; and it’s sin when you covet something forbidden.

Coveting is setting your heart on something you can’t rightfully have, that belongs to someone else.

John Newton called it a “besetting sin.”

Coveting is not a passing whim.  It’s not when you drive by someone’s house and say, “I’d like to have a house like that someday.”

One of the clearest examples of covetousness in the Bible is when King Ahab wanted his neighbor’s vineyard.  It was right next to his palace, and he offered to buy it or give the man a better vineyard somewhere else.

The man’s name was Naboth and here was his response in First Kings chapter 21, “The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!”

Did Ahab say, “Okay, never mind,” and forget about it?  Not at all!  He curled up in bed and wouldn’t even eat.  He was sick with covetousness, that’s how bad he wanted that vineyard next door.

His wicked wife, Queen Jezebel, saw how bad he wanted it and said, “Get up!  Eat!  I’ll get that vineyard for you!”  She killed the neighbor, took the vineyard, and that was that.  Except that God judged them and they died.

John Newton said that covetousness is one of the easiest sins to keep around because people can’t really see that you have it.  In fact, he said, people often don’t realize themselves, or won’t admit it, that they are covetous.**

So, are you covetous?  If you aren’t sure, let me ask you some questions in the format of “you might be covetous if…”

If you want something and are thinking about sneaking around to get it, you might be covetous.

If you have to be deceitful, tell a little lie, shade the truth, quibble, you might be covetous.

Is there anything dishonorable in the process?  Are you taking the low road?  Are you being underhanded?  If you are willing to sacrifice your honor, you might be covetous.

Are you taking advantage of anyone?  Is it cheating them in any way?  If there is any element of “taking” from them for your own benefit, you might be covetous.

Does thinking about it make you nervous?  If your anxiety level goes up when you think about this desire, you might be covetous.

If you think God might be standing between you and what you want, you might be covetous.

If you can’t obtain it with a completely clear conscience, you might be covetous.

If you just know that God is not pleased with this desire, you might be covetous.

If you can feel God’s icy hand of judgment every time you think of it, you might be covetous.

If wanting this puts up a road block to loving your neighbor in any way, you might be covetous.

If you want something bad enough to steal it, I’m pretty sure you’re covetous!

If you are willing to commit any sin just to get it, you probably are covetous.

In Luke 12:15 Jesus said to take heed and beware of covetousness.

Proverbs 28:16 indicates that we should hate covetousness.

Colossians 3:5 tells us to put to death covetousness.

Jeremiah six talks about God bringing judgment on the people because, from the least of them to the greatest, they were all given to covetousness.

Ephesians 5:5 says that no covetous man has any inheritance in the kingdom of God.

And when choosing church leaders, First Timothy three says that one thing we should look for, and not find, is covetousness.

So look for it in your own life, and through the Lord, put it to death.  Get rid of it for good.

There is no place for covetousness in the life of a Christian.  It must not even be named among us.

Instead of setting our hearts on the things of this world, we must fix our hearts and minds on the things of Almighty God.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

* Found on page 75 of the book “How to be Born Again” by Billy Graham
** You can read *”Covetousness” by John Newton here:  http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/covet.html

© 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-

Let's Talk About Your Zodiac Tattoo - Apples of Gold - January 21, 2011 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for January 21, 2011

“Let’s Talk About Your Zodiac Tattoo”

 

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

So, let’s talk about your zodiac tattoo, that thing you had permanently inked on your body.

What will you do now that astronomers are saying the signs have changed?

Apparently your zodiac sign is based on where the stars were when you were born.  All my life there has been this little calendar, and according to it, I’m a Leo.

Now astronomers are saying there has been a cosmic shift over time, and long story short, I’m something else now.

That was the big news last week, until the astrologers, with an L, said, “Wait a minute.  That’s not true.  Don’t worry.  Your sign didn’t change.  It’s not really about the literal constellation you were born under after all.”

Now some of you are thinking, “Why are you even bringing this up.  The whole astrology/horoscope thing is ignorant.” 

I bring it up because some people are very serious about it, and lots of people pay attention to it.  According to a recent Pew survey, 25% of Americans believe in it.*  They may not put their full faith in the horoscope, but they read it and consider it, and sometimes they let it guide their actions. 

The horoscope influences people, and believe it or not, in our enlightened age, it is still printed in reputable newspapers around the country, and a Google search of the word “horoscope” returns over 25 million hits, more than both Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.

I think it’s all hogwash, of course, but what if I didn’t?  What if I followed it?  What if, for the last 40 years, I got up everyday and read my Leo horoscope?  What if certain decisions in my life were influenced by being a Leo, and now, come to find out, I’m a Cancer.

What am I going to do with this massive Leo tattoo on my back?

“Nothing,” the astrologers say, “Just leave it.  We’re not changing anything.”

But what does that do to even the flimsiest argument that the constellation you were born under has some kind of influence over your life?

Of course the real answer is that, in reality, it has nothing to do with anything.  The horoscope is a big nothing, as far as providing divine guidance for your life, yet there it is in the paper everyday.

I notice there’s not a daily Bible verse in the paper.  How about a Proverb-of-the-Day to give people guidance?  “Nope.  We can’t be promoting religion.”  “Oh, I see.”

Here’s the thing.  People are looking for guidance.  They are looking for signs, for leadership, for direction.  When people come to a fork in the road and they don’t know what to do, they will look almost anywhere for help. 

If a person is thinking about leaving their spouse and running off with their lover, and their horoscope says, “Today is the day to take action and make yourself happy,” well by golly that’s their sign!

Listen.  It may sound like harmless fun for most people, and you may find it on the comics page, but listen; anything that offers some kind of divine guidance apart from God and His word is leading you astray.  If you turn to the horoscope instead of the Word of God, you are building your life on a foundation of nothing.

Isaiah 47 brings up astrologers, “those stargazers who make predictions month by month.”  Listen to what God compares them to – a fire without heat.

So what’s a good alternative?  Jeremiah 23:29 says the word of the Lord is like fire.  While the horoscope is a flicker with no heat or power, the word of God has real substance, real heat, real power.

God’s word provides true guidance we can build our lives on.  Listen to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.”

If I built my life on my Leo horoscope, I would be unnerved to find that I was actually a Cancer, or that there was no precise connection to the stars at all.

But instead, I have built my life on the Lord and His word, an unchanging foundation of truth that will endure to the very end.

Jesus said it in Matthew 24:35.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, by My words will by no means pass away.”


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

*  http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0113/New-zodiac-signs-2011-Why-astrology-is-even-sillier-than-we-thought

© 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-

How Can You Think Deeply With All That Noise? - Apples of Gold - January 19, 2011 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

Click here to search the AOG archives.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for January 19, 2011

“How Can You Think Deeply With All That Noise?”

 

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

How do you know what you think if you don’t think?

How can you think if you don’t take time to think?

How can you think anything through if you are constantly interrupted?

How can you think deeply with all that noise?

How can your thoughts be organized and thorough if the TV is on all the time?

How can you string together one thought to the next if you are pouncing on every e-mail and text message that comes in?

We need time to connect the dots.  We need a quiet place to rise above the fray and see the big picture.

What really matters?  What are the majors and the minors?  Am I doing the important or only the urgent?

These things require reflection, deeper thought; the kind of thinking that is best done in silence.

Have you ever read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis?  There’s a story of a man in a quiet library who begins thinking deeper thoughts about his life – and his thinking turns towards God.  All of a sudden, a demon appears and spurs him to get out of there and into the noisy street.  And the man says something like, “Ah, the bus passing, the newsboy shouting, this is normal.  I don’t know what I was thinking back there in the library, but I’m glad to be back to real life.”

I think that happens all the time.  People think real life is whatever they are used to.  Their cell phone.  Their iPod.  Their daily routine.  Their TV shows.  Their favorite DVDs.  They fill their lives with noise, and leave no quiet time for deeper reflection.  The TV comes on first thing in the morning (if it wasn’t left on all night) and from that point forward their thinking is shaped by, if not dictated by, all the noise around them.

I think this keeps us from God.  I think the noise puts up a wall that keeps our minds from turning to our Creator.  We fill up on eye and ear candy and don’t have room for more substantial fare.

Christians fall into this trap, even with Christian things.  Maybe it’s frantic church activity, go-go-go.  Maybe it’s frantic learning, more Bible studies, more lessons, more sermons, Christian radio and TV and music.  Sometimes I think God is drowned out by all of our Christian noise.

Then if we aren’t doing something we can feel guilty.  When we are still, we might feel lazy.  Gotta get up and go and do and change the world.  If I don’t do it, who will?  “If it is to be it is up to me,” and off we go.

Yesterday I was talking with Amy Hayes, the daughter of Bill and Gloria Gaither.  Listen to this phrase of hers, “everlasting more.”  She said, “We don’t need to be doing everlasting more.”

Have you ever felt that way, like you were driven to be doing everlasting more, as if you must just to be a good Christian?

Even Jesus Himself was not driven to be doing everlasting more.  He said He came to finish the work that the Father gave Him to finish…and that was it. 

In John 6:15 a tremendous opportunity presented itself.  Five thousand men were ready to crown Him king!  And what did Jesus do?  He walked away.  He left.  The Bible says He “departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.”

I like how it adds a double emphasis, “by Himself…alone.”  And He stayed there the rest of the day.

What on earth was He doing up there?  What did He do all the other times He was alone?

“Well He was praying, Doug, at least sometimes, the Bible says so.”

Yes, it does, but I doubt it was the frantic prayers we offer up so often.  “Gotta hurry up and get these prayers in before my prayer time is up.”

Don Whitney talks about coming to God in a “wordy fret.”  Can you relate to that, coming to God in a “wordy fret”?

I don’t think that’s what Jesus was doing.

Whitney has written a lot about the discipline of silence before God, and he shares a story by Jonathan Edwards about his future wife Sarah.  Edwards wrote, “She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.  She hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on Him.”

Doesn’t that sound serene?  I picture Jesus doing the same, walking slowly and silently, spending time with the Father.

When we are quiet before the Lord, I think He starts to put things into perspective.  He starts weaving things together and making sense of things.

In the silence, God speaks; our minds and souls can go deeper.  We can start to wrap our head around things because we can think more clearly.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 says there is a time to be silent.

Psalm 4 talks about meditating in our heart and being still.

Habakkuk 2:20 says, “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.”

Zephaniah 1:7 says, “Be silent before the Sovereign Lord…”

Zechariah 2:13 says, “Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord…”

So think about this today.  Think about turning everything off or getting away from all the noise.  Then in the quiet, draw near to God and think deeply about the important things of life and eternity.


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-

Beware What You Pour Into the Family River - Apples of Gold - January 18, 2011 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for January 18, 2011

“Beware What You Pour Into the Family River”

 

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

He just “wanted” her.

He had his reasons.

No, she wasn’t his wife.  She wasn’t anyone’s wife.  She was his father’s “concubine,” if you want to use a biblical term, which is okay, since this is a biblical story.

The father was Jacob.  His concubine was Bilhah, and the young man who wanted her was Jacob’s first born son, Reuben.

Being a first born son was a big deal in those days.  You got the blessing.  You got the inheritance.  You even got the concubines.

But Reuben couldn’t wait.  He wanted the concubine now, so he had her.

That’s just a blip on the radar of history, just one little deed, one little decision.

I doubt he prayed about it, or sought wise counsel.  He didn’t exercise patience, and he didn’t look at the big picture.  He just saw what he wanted, and he went for it. 

And today, Reuben is a warning for all of us, to stop and think before we do something stupid.  Our seemingly small actions send ripples into the future that affect our children and their children and on down the line. 

I don’t know if Reuben tried to keep his dalliance a secret, but Genesis 35:22 says that Reuben “lay with Bilhah,” and his father heard about it.

The Bible doesn’t mention any immediate consequences, so maybe Reuben thought he got away with it.

But the boomerang finally circled back on the day old Jacob spoke his final authoritative words to his sons.

Genesis 49 starts well enough, with Jacob saying, “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.”

But then comes verse four.  “Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it…”

Ouch.

Rueben was the firstborn, but he lost the rights of the firstborn.

Now look at Genesis 42.  It says that Reuben had two sons.

Oh wait.  In Genesis 46 it’s up to four sons.

Reuben lost his father’s blessing, and it affected him and his four sons.

Now look at the census in Numbers chapter one.  They counted only the men 20 years old and up, and how many were on Reuben’s family tree? 

Over 46,000. 

Reuben’s legacy, and his lack of that firstborn blessing, went from himself to his four sons, then on to 46,000 direct descendants, and probably over 100,000 if you count everyone.

So did any famous people show up in the line of Reuben?  Oh yeah. 

In Numbers 26, when talking about the family of Rueben, two names are highlighted:  Dathan and Abiram.  Unfortunately it’s a horror story about those two rebelling against Moses and the Lord.  In the end God opened the ground and swallowed them up along with their families.

Another famous name in the line of Reuben is Shammua.  He helped spy out the Promised Land, and came back voting against the Lord’s will to take it.  That disobedience caused the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

When the 40 years was up, Joshua was ready to lead them across the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and who wanted to stay behind?  The tribe of Reuben, among others.  There was God’s Promised Land, the very place God Himself led them to, but what did Reuben want?  To stay on the east side of the Jordan because they said it was good for livestock.  (Numbers 32)

So the tribe of Reuben planted itself on the east side of the Jordan, and when the Assyrians finally invaded and carried people into captivity, who went first?  Reuben and the others who refused to move into the actual Promised Land.

Now obviously lots of people made lots of decisions over hundreds of years for the tribe of Reuben, and they are all responsible for their own actions.

But I can’t help but wonder if things would have turned out differently if Reuben had not slept with that concubine.  What if he would have kept his father’s blessing and maintained his rights as the firstborn?  What if he would have been the man of God he should have been?  What if his family legacy was one of wisdom and godliness?  Would that have changed things for his family decade after decade, century after century?

I think so, because all you have to do is look around and see how things get passed from parents to children to grandchildren.  Of course it doesn’t have to be that way.  You can break the cycle anytime, but that’s the way it tends to work.

I see the life of Reuben as a warning.  Our family is like a river, and if we pollute the river today, it can affect our family on down the river for generations.

You can even affect the course of that river, so be wise.  Be careful.  Be patient.  Do the right thing.  Obey the Lord.  Avoid sin.

It may not seem like a big deal now, but look what happened to Reuben.

So don’t just live for today.  Think about the big picture.

And beware what you pour into the family river.


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
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