By: Denny

It’s Saturday and your day off. The weather is beautiful with temps in the 70s with low humidity. You decide this is the perfect weekend to do those outdoor projects before cold weather comes. You have your “To Do List” made-up and another list of things to buy, hoping you’ll be able to get it all done in one day. You head for Menards, Lowes or Home Depot and realize when you enter the nearly full parking lot that everyone else has the same idea. Once in the store, you grab one of the few carts left and begin the pursuit of getting in and out as quickly as possible because daylight is burning. You nearly dash through the aisles crossing things off your list as you load your cart avoiding near collisions with other shoppers. Finally, you have everything and head for the checkout lanes. You’ve got the same plan as everyone else: find the shortest lane. Suddenly, they open a new lane by shouting, “I can help someone on lane five.” A tidal wave of people and carts pour in that direction and beat you to it. You intently observe the remaining lanes to see which one appears to be the shortest or moving the fastest, and rush to get in line. There are only two people in line ahead of you. You survey the number of items in their carts and observe the speed and efficiency of the cashier, whereby you mentally calculate your estimated wait time. You confidently smile knowing you’ve made the right choice seeing how slowly the other lanes are still moving. The elderly woman ahead of you appears to be in her 80s. She doesn’t have a lot of items. As her purchases are scanned there is a pause. Oh no, it’s the dreaded intercom announcement, “I need a price check on lane 2”, which means at least another five minutes of wait time. People behind you are pulling out and going to other lanes, but you are stuck as if in a traffic jam and decide to wait it out. It seems like forever until the price check is delivered and the cashier completes the process and announces the total to the woman. Like most people,  you would have been bagging your stuff already so all you’d have to do is insert your card, enter the pin number, grab your receipt, and go. She reaches into her purse and pulls out what you had hoped would be a debit card, but somehow, you knew it would be a checkbook. She slowly and shakily writes the check and hands it to the cashier then proceeds to record it in her check register. She smiles at you and apologizes for taking so long and holding up the line, but still needs to bag her items. You smile back and say, “That’s OK”, knowing that could be you someday. You’re sure her shopping outing required more energy, pain, and sacrifice than yours did. Somehow getting all your projects done in one day didn’t seem so important. “Insert card, enter pin #, take receipt, thank you, have a good day, next”, and the line progresses methodically forward.

I think I was in my mid 40s when I first started using a debit or credit card. Everything before that was either cash or check, which was pretty much the norm back then. In high school, I took an elected Personal Bookkeeping class. I got straight A ‘s and learned a lot. I think it should be a required course for all students, especially in this age of plastic. I’ve always been the one to keep the books and pay the bills. We never had a budget; I don’t like that word. We have what I call a “spending program”. When we were married money was tight. My wife was a stay-at-home mom, and I had a seasonal job. To make ends meet we had plain envelopes with different categories written on the outside of them. On payday, I would cash my check and distribute the money into each envelope accordingly as needed. When the bills came due the money was there to pay them. Many times, the “Grocery” envelope only had $25 in it for the week. Our “Entertainment/Eating Out” envelope was the last to get cash inserted into it and often didn’t get or have any. Even though other envelopes had money we never robbed from them. However, and I say this as a matter of fact, our “Tithe” envelope was the first to get the full 10% cash of my gross wages. We honored and gave back to God first and foremost and as a result never lacked anything, because we understood the blessings of being good stewards of what he gave us. Proverbs 27: 23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks and attend to your herds. In those days raising sheep was a primary source of income for many. A good shepherd took care of his sheep, protected them, and knew how many he had. In today’s terminology we would compare it to having money in the bank. The application for us today literally would be just that. How much money do you have, what is your income, how do you plan to spend it, and are you diligent to protect it. In the case of the elderly woman, I’d be willing to bet that when she got home, she subtracted the amount of her check from her balance and knew how much money she had left. The danger with debit cards is that unless you keep a written register, it’s easy to spend more than you have in the bank. It’s called, “being overdrawn with insufficient funds” and the charges are costly. I wonder how many people use any kind of register or system to keep track of their debit card transactions, and know their current daily balance. Furthermore, how many even know how to reconcile their register balance with the bank statement. To reconcile in bookkeeping language basically means comparing figures and taking action to come to agreement with the bank’s statement, and to have the same balance. In all my years of keeping a checking account register I’ve found the bank balance to be true. If there were any discrepancies, mistakes, or shortcomings, the fault was always found to be with me overspending or my inaccurate figures. So many people these days are in over their heads with debt, because of their overspending and lack of good accounting practices and financial responsibility. It’s like the person who says, “I can’t be out of money, I still have plenty of checks!”

John 3:16 is often referred to as the gospel in a nutshell. Many people can quote it word for word but do not understand the deeper meaning. Yes, God did and does love the world and He wants everyone to know that, but love was his motivation, not the purpose or final accomplished result. Reconciliation is the very heart of the Gospel. Before mankind sinned, he had peace and fellowship with God. They were in agreement and there was balance and perfect harmony between them. Sin destroyed all that, which resulted in a debt of spiritual and physical separation between sinful man and God. God is holy and sin in any form cannot abide in his presence. The wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23. In other words, man’s work of disobeying God earned him spiritual death as a paycheck. Of course, all man needed to do to restore that relationship and be reconciled to God, would be to die and give his blood as payment. Hebrews 9:22 And according to the law almost all things are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Which was an impossibility since sinful blood from a sinful man can never satisfy, redeem, or pay the debt owed to a Holy God. Man had become bankrupt so to speak, and overdrawn with insufficient funds to pay his debt. There are only two ways to eliminate your financial debts: pay them off or have them forgiven. The same holds true with the spiritual debt we owe God.  BUT GOD! The two most powerful words in the Bible. Here’s the exciting part! God did both concerning our spiritual debt when He sent His holy sinless son Jesus Christ to die in our place. By shedding his sinless blood, he paid our debt owed to God, whereby God offers us total forgiveness and reconciliation. Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and irreproachable in his sight. Colossians 2:14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross. The last words Jesus spoke as He was dying on the cross as recorded in the Gospel of John are,  “It is finished!” The path to reconciliation had been accomplished and now mankind could have peace with God once again. It is important to understand that God did not need to be reconciled to man, but man must be reconciled to God. Even though the reconciliation has been accomplished and provided for, everyone must appropriate it by faith in Jesus Christ in their own lives. The analogy would be that God has not only wiped out your debt, but has deposited unlimited funds (forgiveness) in your account to cover all your bad checks (sins) you have written (committed) or will ever write. That’s the good news of the Gospel. The prophet Isaiah speaking by the spirit of God wrote in Isaiah 1:18 saying, “Come now and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” What will your response be to this; God’s personal invitation to have a one on one meeting with you? The apostle Paul in addressing the Corinthians wrote: 2 Corinthians 5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. Will you today answer yes to God who is pleading with you to be reconciled to Him?

To be reconciled to God is of utmost importance, but the scriptures say this also. Matthew 5:23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. What this says plainly is that if you are holding grudges or unforgiveness towards another, or they towards you, and you come to the altar with an offering to God and there remember it, He will not accept it until you first try to be reconciled to that other person. In so many cases, especially among family members, there is a refusal to be reconciled or even have a discussion. Silent stubbornness and pride can fuel the rift that often lasts for years, decades, or even a lifetime. Seeing as how God Himself sacrificed His only son so you could be reconciled to Him, what right does anyone have to refuse, shun,  ignore, or belittle for any reason an attempt by another to be reconciled with them. That is contrary to the word of God and the grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love that he has shown to each of us. Sadly, many who claim to be Christians reproach the name of Jesus Christ when they act this way. You might say, “I’m not into all this God and Jesus stuff and I don’t go to church, so it doesn’t apply to me.” The word of God applies to everyone whether you believe it or not. God is an excellent bookkeeper, and He sees those sins and broken relationships you’ve swept under the rug. Romans 14:12 So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.  Maybe it’s time for you to get off your high horse and smirky self-righteous attitude and – Be Reconciled!  Before it’s too late.