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Ca$h
the Check
A
beggar stopped a lawyer on the street in a large
southern city and asked him for a quarter.
Taking a long, hard look into the man's
unshaven face, the attorney asked, "Don't I know
you from somewhere?" "You
should," came the reply.
"I'm your former classmate.
Remember, second floor, old Main Hall?"
"Why
Sam, of course I know you!" Without further
question the lawyer wrote a check for $10,000.
"Here, take this and get a new start. I don't care what's happened in the past, it's the future
that counts." And with that he hurried on. Tears
welled up in the man's eyes as he walked to a bank
nearby. Stopping at the door, he saw through the glass
well-dressed tellers and the spotlessly clean
interior. Then
he looked at his filthy rags. "They won't take
this from ME! They'll swear that I forged it,"
he muttered as he turned away.
The
next day the two men met again. "Why Sam, what
did you do with my check?
Gamble it away?
Drink it up?" "No,"
said the beggar as he pulled it out of his dirty
shirt pocket and told why he hadn't cashed it.
"Listen, friend," said the lawyer....
"What makes that check good is not YOUR
clothes or appearance, but
MY signature.
Go on, cash it!"
Isaiah
described the sinful condition of man in a very
descriptive and truthful way:
"ALL of us have become like one who is
unclean, and ALL our righteous acts are
like
filthy rags; we ALL shrivel up like a leaf, and
like the wind our sins sweep us away"
(Isaiah 64:6).
The
Good News is... that Jesus has “written a
check” to cover our debt of SIN.
The payment for OUR SIN cost Jesus HIS LIFE. He
bore our sins in His own body on the cross, that we,
having died to sins, might live for righteousness.
We can be healed of our sinful condition
because He PAID THE PRICE for sin (1 Peter
2:24).
As
we look at OUR filthy rags, however, we may feel
unworthy of “cashing the check.”
Ashamed at our fruitless attempts to live the
way that we should, we don’t feel like we deserve a
fresh start. That’s the beauty of grace: we DON'T
deserve it, BUT because of His love and mercy,
God wants to give us a NEW BEGINNING. We will
NEVER be able to earn this new life; we must
simply “cash the check.”
What
makes God’s “check” of salvation good is not
YOUR clothes or appearance, but HIS signature, written
with the cleansing BLOOD
of Jesus!
To
“cash” God’s check of salvation... we must
place our faith in
Him (Hebrews 11:6), repent
of our sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), be
baptized in the
name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts
2:38), AND dedicate the rest of our lives to faithful
obedience to His will (1 John 1:7).
Don't
let the "tattered clothes" of your past keep
YOU from cashing God's
"check" of salvation.
God
bless you!
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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