Apples of Gold
Apples of Gold contains articles to help you draw closer to God and grow in your worship of Him. It is our desire that these truly will be words "fitly spoken" to encourage you in your walk with the Lord.
Life is Full of Surprises
How do you handle life’s surprises? We cannot be prepared for every circumstance that arises in life, but we try to anticipate what we can and make appropriate plans. There are times, however, when we are surprised, and often in a distressing way.
When we find out one of our loved ones has been in an accident or fallen ill, it is often not expected. Sometimes a financial reversal is a surprise. Even more difficult is when we learn of a spiritual failure in the life of a person we believed to be a staunch follower of Christ.
As believers, we should “expect the unexpected.” Jesus told us that trials will come:
Do You Eat Your Peas With Honey?
I eat my peas with honey;
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.
-Anonymous
Most of us don’t eat our peas with honey, but we all have little habits that we enjoy and can be stubborn about. Some people have a favorite pew they sit in each week at church. Most of us have a favorite TV show. We like our sandwiches made a certain way, and there is almost certainly a chair or spot on the sofa in our house that is designated as “my seat.” Our attitude toward these little things can become very selfish. Have you ever seen a dog that is chewing on a bone? When his closest dog friend approaches, tail wagging, and innocently sticks his nose nearby as if to ask, “Whatcha doin’?” the dog with the bone will growl as if to say, “Get away! My bone!”
The Story of My Favorite Hymn
HOW GREAT THOU ART
In response to requests from many lands for an authoritative account of how this hymn came to be written, the following has been compiled by the writer, Stuart K. Hine, and by the publisher, Manna Music, Inc.
In 1885, a Swedish preacher, by the name of Carl Boberg, at age 26, wrote the words only of a poem entitled, “O Store Gud” translated into English is “O Great God”. A fairly literal translation from Swedish into English, of the first verse and refrain of “O Store Gud”, is as follows:
KOKO!
Bob Jones, Sr. used to say, “The test of a man’s character is what it takes to stop him.” Have you ever known a Christian to give up? Maybe they were serving God faithfully until someone in their church was unkind to them. Or perhaps they had a financial difficulty and were so discouraged that they stopped attending church, in essence giving up on God. Another reason some people quit serving God is because of a failure. Sin is humiliating, and often a person that has failed spiritually will step back from serving God out of embarrassment. Also, there is a tendency to think that because a person cannot do the same ministry they used to do, they can no longer serve in the church. Lastly, fatigue causes many Christians to quit.
Words Have Weight
Does what we say really matter? Sometimes we feel that no one listens to us. If words really have no impact, then what difference does it make if we say something inappropriate? Does it matter if we are unkind with our words? Is it worth the effort to think before we speak? Is it really necessary to be polite? People just ignore it anyway, right?