Write the Blank Cheque

I wonder, when did you last write a cheque? The days of long, flappy paper books seem to be increasingly behind us. the convenience of plastic is overtaking that of paper and even coin. Writing a cheque seems overly complicated when we crave convenience doesn't it? It doesn't fit in your pocket, it requires an investment of time to write out the all of the details, and there are SO many details (and who even writes stuff any more?). It just makes our life so much easier and less cluttered to use something small that fits in our pocket, purse or wallet.

But do you realise that every day of your life you get the opportunity to write cheques? Every day there is scope for making a deposit in the life of the people around you, the church family you belong to, the ministry that you have been privileged to bless with the gift that God has given you. The problem is, making that kind of contribution is seldom hassle free. It might not always fit with your convenience, it may make your life seem cluttered and the thing about investing your life in and with others is that it instantly makes your life more complicated.

So here is what we want to encourage you to do this morning. think about writing a blank cheque with your life. Now I know that the thought of that is giving you flashbacks of terror to the day when you carried the cheque around like a bomb in your pocket. 'Supposing someone takes advantage and cleans my account out,' or 'what if I lose it and it benefits some stranger or some person who I don't want to have it.' We walk around with exactly the same fears and reservations when it comes to our service within the local church. We want our time, talent and treasure spent on our terms and on the people that we want. We want to retain control rather than knowing the sweetness of surrender.

The temptation when we examine our involvement in the church is to see it as doing a job for the pastor or ministry leader, or giving up time for the church. This has some dangers because it encourages a culture of comparison where we are doing this much or spending that much time in comparison to them. Let's get rid of this idea and see that we do what we do because we get to not because we have got to. We are not working for the leaders, we are serving our Lord. Jesus is building HIS church that the gates of Hell will not prevail against. Have you got something greater to be investing your time and energy in than that? How about rejecting the spiritual penny pinching of our age in the church and keeping our account open for Jesus. And, in case you didn't realise, the reality is that the only thing in YOUR account is what HE has put there anyway.

So write the blank cheque; the heart attitude that says whatever I give Jesus deserves more; whatever I do, Jesus has gone way beyond; whoever I invest part of my life in, Jesus has already given his life for. Newsflash: No one will ever stand before Jesus and say 'I paid too much.'