Friday, July 11, 2008

I Weigh 172 Pounds - Apples of Gold - July 11, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for July 11, 2008

“I Weigh 172 Pounds”


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

I weigh 172 pounds.

There aren’t many things I know that precisely about myself.  Most things aren’t that easy to check, but weight – that’s simple.  Just step on the scales and there it is.

If my goal is to lose weight or gain weight, it’s so easy to see how I’m doing.  Just step on the scales.

When I moved to Tallahassee I weighed 190 pounds.  Then I went on the Daniel Fast and I dropped to 165 pounds, which is how much I weighed when I got married.  I weighed 155 pounds in high school. 

In college, when I bought straight legged Levi’s, they were 32 x 32.  When the fashion shifted, I switched to a 32 x 34.  Maybe I’m shrinking, because now I’m back to a 32 x 32. 

See, some things I know precisely about myself. 

Other things are a little harder to measure. 

For example, Galatians 6:4 says, “Each one should test his own actions.”

How on earth does one measure his actions?  I wish there were “action scales,” just step on and see how your actions measure up. 

“Ah, your actions are a 95, that’s weak.  A man your age should be at least 150.”

But, it doesn’t work that way, so how am I supposed to test my own actions?

Well, the first step is to track my actions.  What all do I actually do? 

Sometimes we just ramble our way through each day, paying little attention to all the things we do.  Well, if we are going to test our actions, we have to start by examining them.

I had a radio class in college, and one of our assignments was to pick out a station and listen to it constantly.  We had to track everything they did.  Let me tell you, you learn a lot when you track something that closely.

When someone is trying to get their budget under control, what is one thing they always say to do?  Write down all your expenditures.  Every single time you buy something, write it down.  You learn a lot about where your money goes when you write down every purchase.

So if I want to test my own actions, like it says in Galatians 6:4, a good place to start is to write down what all I do – and how much time I spend doing it.

You can’t test your actions if you don’t know what they are.  Yes, you might think you know, but just like people are surprised when they see where their money actually goes, I think you will be surprised when you see what you actually spend your time doing.

So I’ve been testing my actions.  I’m doing pretty good in some areas:  prayer, Bible study, church work, time with my wife, exercise, working at the radio station. 

But I noticed a glaring hole – time spent with my children one on one.  Yes, they are a bit older now, and they spend a lot of time away from home – but still, I don’t want to lose touch with them.  So to fill the hole, for example, tonight I am taking my 17-year-old out for a father-daughter date.  The other day I skipped going for my usual run when my 21-year-old wanted to sit down and talk.

Now I don’t want to sound silly, but how do I know that I should spend time with my children?

It sounds obvious, I know – but still, how do we know if our actions are right?  We are supposed to test our actions, but what are we testing them against?

In radio, we broadcast from towers.  You’ve seen them.  They are red and white, which keeps airplanes from crashing into them.  By law we have to keep the paint from getting too dull.  To test the brightness, the government has a little card.  They simply hold that card up to your tower and tell you whether you need to paint or not.

So you test the brightness of the paint by comparing it to colors on the card that you know are correct.

It’s the same with our actions.  Once we write down our actions, now we can compare them to actions we know are correct.  And for that we turn to the Word of God, the Bible.

If our actions line up with the Word, then we’re good.  If they don’t, then we need to change them.

James 1 says we should look intently into the Word.  So we look intently into the Word, and we look closely at our actions, and we compare the two.  That is how we test our actions.

So how do I know I am supposed to spend time with my children?  Well for one thing, Deuteronomy 11:19 talks about teaching children “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  And the only way to do that is by spending time with them.

Galatians 6:4 says, “Each one should test his own actions.” 

Second Corinthians 13:5 says, “…test yourselves.”

Lamentations 3:40 says, “Let us examine our ways and test them…”

So testing our actions is important.  And we start by tracking them, then comparing them to the Word of God.  Then we can adjust our actions to line up with the Word, and then comes the big payoff, according to James 1:25 – we will be blessed in what we do.

And the first step to that blessing is the testing of our own actions.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

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


© 2008 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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