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God - The
Supreme Banker
by Doug Perry, www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com
Click here for
printable PDF version
I've been thinking
a lot about this. Because I'm a business guy, I think in financial
terms. See if this makes any sense to you.
When we're born
God opens two bank accounts for us. One is a checking account and the
other is a retirement account. As soon as we are old enough to know
better our sin immediately begins to overdraw the checking account.
We might do good works and care for the sick, orphans, widows, etc. -
and we DO get credit for that, but it gets locked into the retirement
account. The checking account is unaffected. NOTHING, nothing,
nothing can redeem us of our indebtedness and overdrawn status on our
checking account - except the blood of Jesus. We are bankrupt and
condemned because of the checking account. The retirement account
can't be used to pay our debt.
When we accept
Christ and lay our lives at the feet of the Cross, He instantly
brings us back up to zero. We are debt-free! Praise God! We're
redeemed. But ... mostly we are too stupid and stubborn and sinful to
be able to stay at zero. Before long we start sinning and our debt
accumulates again. Now, we might be doing good works throughout and
tithing and feeding the poor and maybe even doing great miracles and
preaching our hearts out - but all that does is store up in our
retirement account. Sooner or later, we realize our indebtedness
again and repent and Jesus zeroes out the checking debt again.
Holiness is living at zero. There is no positive balance possible in
the checking account. We can't exceed holiness - the best we can hope
for in this life is a lack of sinfulness (debt) that keeps us at zero.
Only those who are
debt-free in their checking account will be counted as worthy - and
ONLY THEN can they cash in their retirement accounts. There will be
many on that day that say "Lord, Lord, look at my giant
retirement account!" and He will say, "Yep, but that wasn't
the main point. Get your goatishness out of here." (Or something
like that.) MANY will have done good works that they will never be
able to cash in.
For me it's really
simple. Try to stay at zero (holiness/purity) and repent ALL the
time, just in case. Then, if I have ONE hour of my time to spend, do
I rack up more treasure in heaven mowing the lawn at the church or
visiting someone in prison or feeding the homeless? If I have just
ONE dollar to give, do I get more treasure in heaven for helping buy
a chandelier for the sanctuary or feeding an orphan in Ghana? And if
I help a servant of God and thereby get a share of HIS reward, then
who is the hottest stock around and how can I get in on it? (Matt.
10:40-42) That is, who has the biggest pile of treasure and how can I
help them get more? Is it my megachurch pastor, the televangelist
with a new book out, the guy working downtown showing Christ to the
junkies and prostitutes or the barefoot native pastor in India that
has planted 100 churches among the most unreached?
I'm not saying you
financially "flaggelate" yourself and live on nothing. I'm
saying EVERY dollar is God's - so you ask Him, "Lord, can I buy
an ice cream with this dollar? Lord, should I feed an orphan with
this dollar? Lord, should I help buy a million dollar chandelier for
the sanctuary?" Sometimes He says it's OK for me to have ice
cream, or a newer car, or whatever. He cares for His own, He doesn't
want me to starve. But He always wants His money spent according to
HIS priorities. If you'll listen and then be obedient, even if it's
hard, it's likely He'll decide you can be trusted with more and more
money. We're to be good stewards, not just to hand it over to any
schmo with a 501(c)(3) without asking any questions.
Oh ... and if you
think I'm arguing against a "once saved, always saved" view
of salvation, I'm really not. I honestly don't know if a
sincere prayer at church camp when you were eight is enough to get
you in the door or not. But I know Jesus expects a lot more out
of us than just having once said a prayer and then done whatever we
wanted the rest of the time. It just seems like the Narrow Path
has to be more narrow than that. I'm just pointing out that ust
because you might have done some good stuff, doesn't necessarily mean
you'll get to cash in on that reward if you're not seeking
holiness. You'll have to seek God and see if He says you're
where you need to be with Him. That's between you two.
Copyright 2005
Doug Perry. Use freely, but without charge or changes. Link to: www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com |
