THE NIP IT PRINCIPLE

Hello fellow bud nippers. For those who don't know...I am the president of The Andy Griffith Rerun Watchers Fan Club (Rockvale Chapter). The name of the chapter (as with all chapters) is taken from a line from The Andy Griffith Show. The Rockvale chapter is called JUST A BED AND A BIBLE...from where Brisco Darling replied to the hotel clerk's question... if he needed anything else... Brisco said, "Just a bed and a Bible." I have been taught many Biblical principles over the years...and one is what I call the NIP IT PRINCIPLE. This is some advice that Barney Fife was giving Andy about Opie and that advice was you've got to nip it in the bud...nip it, nip it, nip it.

I have found that throughthe years that when my life gets messy...I have a tendancy to wonder why that happen to me.? I am walking along an WHAMO....I am SUDDENLY either sinning or reaping the results of bad sowing. I have sown to the wind...and SUDDENLY I am reaping the whirlwind. The fact is that the suddeness of the event had been building up...and if I had only taken time to nip it in the bud...when it first started, I could have avoided what I was going through.

NOTE: The NIP IT IN THE BUD PRINCIPLE is closely related to the BARNEY FIFE SYNDROME (where I should of kept the bullet in my pocket like Andy told Barney).

In Proverbs we see the progressive nature of the SUDDEN thang...in Proverbs 7:22..."SUDDENLY he follows her (the harlot) as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool until an arrow pierces through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare, SO he does not know that it will COST HIM HIS LIFE."

If you trace the root of this SUDDEN destruction...back to Proverbs 7:8 you will see that it begins with:

(1) Passing through the street NEAR her corner (vs 8)
(2) He takes the WAY to her house (vs 8)
(3) Behold a woman COMES to MEET him (vs 10)
(4) So she SEIZES him and KISSES him (vs 13)
(5) And with a brazen face she SAYS to him (vs13)
(6) SUDDENLY he follows her (vs22)

How could this young, naive youth have avoided SUDDENLY following her to his destruction? By applying the NIP IT PRINCIPLE. From the moment he began to get near the edge of the slippery river bank of his folly...when he began to pass by the street near her corner...he should of nip it in the bud and went the other way. Remeber it is not the big things that brings us down and destroys our lives. Nobody starts out the morning with the thought that they would like to become an alcoholic or a drug addict or (fill in the blank). It starts with little things. In the Song of Solomon it is put like this..."Catch the foxes for us, the LITTLE foxes that are RUINING the vineyards, while our vineyards are in blossom."

What is the BUD in your life? What is the COST that you are willing to pay for your loss of life? While we nip the bud...Jesus will help you take it down to the root of the cause and effects in our lives by the D.B.R. as he deals with (1) sins...plural...the things that we do (2) sin...the nature...that is the root of our problem.

Well...that's it for now. Put the bullet back in your pocket...and keep your bud nippers handy.

Love and Pruned Back Kissess
Rod "Bud Nipper" Boyd