Apples of Gold
Radio Script for December 26, 2011
“Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Have you heard that before?
It means the Titanic is sinking. You have better things to do than arrange the chairs.
It sounds obvious, but we do it all the time.
I don’t mean the ship is always sinking. I mean that we focus on small things while great things are swirling around us.
For example, that time period between a couple’s engagement and wedding. We spend a lot of time and money preparing for the wedding, while the marriage – which is the big ship in this picture – gets little or no attention.
It’s the little things versus the big things. The wedding is a little thing. The marriage is the big thing.
There are other ways of saying this: “majoring in minors,” “can’t see the forest for the trees,” “seeing the big picture.”
I heard one businessman describe his life this way. He said he spent many years climbing the ladder of success, but when he got to the top he realized the ladder was leaning against the wrong building. He was so busy climbing that he never really asked, “What is waiting for me at the top of this ladder?”
If you get the deck chairs just the way you want them, but the boat sinks, what good is it?
If you clean your dorm room when you should be studying for finals…
If you rack up debt just to buy Christmas gifts…
If you beat up your husband for leaving the toothbrush on the counter…
There are many ways we major in minors.
When you smoke…at all!
There’s a great story in First Kings chapter 12. King Solomon died and left his son Rehoboam with an awesome kingdom. The kingdom was built on the backs of the people, however, and when Solomon died they wanted relief.
They pled their case to the king, and wisely he said, “Come back in three days.”
Rehoboam consulted the wise men who served his father, and they said, “If you serve these people today, and give them a good answer, they will be your servants forever.”
The wise men were looking at the big picture. Give them something they want today, and they will serve you forever.
But Rehoboam didn’t like that advice, and turned to his peers, who said, “Tell the people you are bigger and stronger and badder than your old man ever was!”
And they told Rehoboam to use this famous line. “My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist!”
So what happened? Rehoboam missed the big picture. For the most part his kingdom became a Titanic. The people rebelled, the nation split in two, and Rehoboam fled for his life.
It’s easy to see when others miss the big picture, but how are we missing the big picture? How are we rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?
Jesus said it this way. “You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
In Matthew 23 He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matter of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
Can you imagine paying tithes on your spices? Can you imagine being given a little free packet of pepper at Wendy’s, and pinching out a tenth of it to pay tithes? But the Pharisees did it. They were tithing on spices – but ignoring justice and mercy and faith.
So the question is, how are we doing that? How are we neglecting the weightier matters? Are we tithing our spices but neglecting our neighbors?
One thing we do is focus on how we look on the outside, while rotting on the inside.
Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs: white on the outside, but inside full of dead men’s bones.
Proverbs 11:22 says, “A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.”
She’s got it going on on the outside, but without godly character, her beauty is just a little gold ring in a pig’s snout. And you know how Jews felt about pigs.
To look good on the outside but neglect the inside is to rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic.
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. (Proverbs 31:30) Charm and beauty are little things. Fearing the Lord is the big thing.
Have you read about “Corban” in Mark chapter seven? People would take money meant for their parents and give it to the Lord instead. The Pharisees loved it, but Jesus railed against it. They were missing the big picture, which was to honor their father and mother.
In Mark 7:13 Jesus concluded, “And you do many things like that.”
So the question is, how are we doing that? How are we straining gnats and swallowing camels?
How do we major in minors and miss the forest for the trees?
It’s something we need to think about, and pray about.
“Lord, am I rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?”
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
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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
3225 Hartsfield Road
Tallahassee, FL 32303
(850) 926-8000
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