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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for January 7, 2011
“With the Measure You Use It Will Be Measured to You”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
So you have one candy bar and two kids.
You want to have some fun?
Here’s what you do. Tell them you are going to let one child break the candy bar in half, then the other child will get to choose which half he wants.
Scientists at the Fermi Lab could not create a more even split than that child will, knowing that if he makes one piece big, he’s going to be stuck with the little one.
That’s a great way to split anything between children. Let one break and the other choose.
Otherwise, if you try to split it, one of them will howl that they were cheated. Plus it opens the door for the chooser to show some kindness, to actually take the smaller piece and leave the bigger.
That usually won’t happen, though, because usually kids are selfish, especially with their siblings. Rare is the child who puts his sibling’s needs above his own.
The problem is, we often carry that selfishness into adulthood. We tend to look out for number one. I’ll get mine. Good luck getting yours.
Here’s a story about a man in the 1960’s. He was in his 40’s when all the hippies and bikers came on the scene, and he didn’t like them.
One day there was a knock on his door and it was a Harley rider. He was out of gas and was asking for help. There were a couple other bikers on their motorcycles sitting out on the street.
Now I agree, you need to be careful in a situation like that. You need to be on your guard when random strangers show up at your door. But when someone is asking for help, you need to try to help them in some wise way.
Well this guy was not about to help what he saw as some lazy, shiftless, rebellious pot-smoking, motorcycle-riding hippies. So what did he do? He was rude. He said something like, “No, I’m not going to help you. Get off my property you no good blankety-blank-blank-blank.”
So the Harley riders moved on and got gas elsewhere. And then they came back. That’s right, they weren’t too lazy and shiftless to come repay the rudeness. What they did was ride their motorcycles onto the man’s precious manicured lawn. They spun out donut after donut, destroying his yard before riding off into the sunset.
What they did was criminal, of course, and was a gross overpayment for the man’s rudeness, but it’s a great example of a teaching of Jesus.
In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
That man was rude to someone in need. That was the measure he used, and it was measured back to him “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.”
When I was a boy, a song came out that was a wonderful illustration of the measure you use being measured back to you.
In 1974 a song by Harry Chapin hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It was called “Cat’s in the Cradle” and it was a story song, with a father singing about his son.
The son keeps asking to spend time with his dad, but his dad is too busy and keeps putting him off. The son says things like, “That’s okay, Dad. I’m going be just like you someday.”
As the song progresses, you can see the transition. By the end, the dad is retired and trying to spend time with his son, and what does his son say? “Not now, Dad, I’m too busy.”
With the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
That father used a very small measure when it came to time with his son, and that’s the same measure his son used later in life.
Galatians 6:7 says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
The seeds you plant are the seeds that will grow and multiply. Eventually they become the fruit you will eat. If you plant good seeds, you will enjoy good fruit.
So the point? Don’t be stingy. Give! Give time to your son. Give gas to a stranger. Even give the bigger half of a candy bar.
Give, and it will be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
(close with a clip from “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin)
© 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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