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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for May 8, 2009
“Wisdom Is One Question Away”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
“If you had one piece of advice for Rachel and me as we get married, what would it be?”
That’s the question my son has been asking people.
He said he asked his future mother-in-law and she said something like, “Just remember not to take everything too seriously. Remember to have fun along the way.”
Before I could answer he jumped in.
“I mean in addition to putting God first.”
I guess that was a given.
So I sifted through two decades of marriage in about two seconds and came up with this.
“Paul said, ‘One thing I do – forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead.’ I think a key to marriage is to not let yesterday’s problems poison today. So many people let things build up, like barnacles on a ship. They hold on to past problems, then whip them out in the next argument. The key is to forget that old junk. That’s yesterday. Let it go. Forget what’s in the past and strain toward what is ahead, towards what Christ has for you.”
Now what about you? If you are in a long-term, successful marriage, what one piece of advice would you give my son who’s getting married next month?
Yesterday I heard about a Christian leader who married a woman, then they divorced shortly thereafter. And he was a Christian leader!
I asked my son, “What is the chance of that happening to you?”
“Zero,” he said.
“That’s right,” I said. “And when I got married I knew there was zero chance of it happening to me, and here’s the difference. Wisdom. You are going into your marriage with wisdom. I went into my marriage with wisdom, and when you do that, you know it’s all going to work out just fine.”
One guy I know always says this, “You think you have a marriage problem? You don’t have a marriage problem. You have a wisdom problem.”
He also says, “You don’t have a financial problem. You have a wisdom problem.”
In fact, for any problem you come up with, he says that’s not your problem. What you really have is a wisdom problem.
Proverbs 4:7 says, “Wisdom is supreme…”
Proverbs 8:11 says, “…wisdom is more precious than rubies…”
Proverbs 16:16 says, “How much better to get wisdom than gold…”
Okay, so wisdom is great, better than gold – but how do you get it?
Well there are a lot of ways to get it, but let’s look at just one. It goes back to what my son is doing. He is simply asking successful people, “What is one piece of advice you would give me?”
That’s brilliant! And so simple.
The man who owns this radio station is a successful business man. Yesterday he said something like, “Here we are, pretty successful in business, and yet it’s amazing how few people ever ask for advice. And when they do, and we tell them, it doesn’t seem to register.”
Here’s what I think happens. We get locked into a certain way of thinking. Then when someone advises something different, we just stand there like a cow at a new gate.
Now listen to Proverbs 14:8. It says that the wise “give thought to their ways.”
See, we need to think about what we do and why we do it.
Then comes Proverbs 13:10. “….wisdom is found in those who take advice.”
So we need to ponder our ways, then take the advice of others and apply it.
I see my son doing that, and what a foundation of wisdom he is building his marriage on!
And it can be as simple as asking successful people for just one piece of advice in their area of success.
Are you a young parent? Then ask some older, successful parents for one piece of advice.
Are you new in business? Then ask an older, successful businessperson for one piece of advice.
You get the idea.
So think about this today. Whatever problem you are having, think of it as a wisdom problem.
Then seek wisdom. It’s better than gold and more precious than rubies.
Wisdom is supreme. And it’s not that hard to get.
Just follow the example of my son, knowing that wisdom is just one question away.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 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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