CHECKS YOU CAN'T CASH

CHECKS YOU CAN’T CASH

It has been reported that during the prime of Muhammad Ali’s boxing career, a close friend grew tired of his continual claims that he was the greatest.  Knowing that Ali never played golf, his friend casually inquired of him, “So how are you at golf?”  Ali responded with an expected and humorous confidence: “I’m the best!  I just haven’t played yet.”

Point To Ponder: ‘Does your mouth write checks your life can’t cash?’

Recently, I read an interesting quotation by Simon Cowell, formerly of American Idol fame.  He said, “I could sit back and get someone to spin my achievements, I suppose, but when I see others do that, I always think, ‘Why are you telling me how successful you are?’  I am always suspicious of those kinds of boasts.”  Me too, Mr. Cowell, me too.

There is a synonym for boasting, one which is often employed in our day by those who relish various degrees of self-exaltation.  It is called “promotion.”  To be candid, far too many (in the guise of promoting personal achievements or ministry involvements) resort to daily dispatches of what could aptly be described as unvarnished and unabashed boasting.  It makes me scratch my head and wonder: ‘What happened to our humility?’  Have we so soon forgotten Solomon’s sage advice?  “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

My father, the late Bishop Joseph Edison Bass, Sr., often posed a question specifically designed to make us aware of the need for genuine humility.  Dad asked us, “What do you have that you did not receive?”  His question was a condensed paraphrase of the Apostle Paul’s admonition to the Church of Corinth: “For who makes you differ from another?  And what do you have that you did not receive?  Now if you indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (I Corinthians 4:7) 

Paul expanded on this ethical concept in his letter to the Church of Rome: “Where is boasting then?  It is excluded.  By what law?  Of works?  No, by the law of faith.” (Romans 3:27) Although he was “a Hebrew of Hebrews,” Paul modestly concluded that “I will rather boast in my infirmities [as opposed to my accomplishments] that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (Philippians 3:5 – II Corinthians 12:9) To the Church of Galatia, Paul wrote, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

Here’s the thing.  Boasting is not only framed in an unbridled arrogance; it is also the personification of intellectual ignorance.  Why?  Because any degree of self-exaltation overlooks the undeniable fact that you and I have been “bought with a price” and were undeserving sinners summoned to the cross of Calvary by the love, mercy, grace of God.   So I must…you must…“glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Corinthians 6:20) May I be transparent?  Whenever I am tempted to expand my own ego and to start tripping, I hear the inner whispered voice of my very wise father: “What do you have that you did not receive?”      

James, the brother of Jesus, did not mince words about this egocentric condition: “All such boasting is evil,” he wrote. (James 4:16) David’s testimony is confirmation: “My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.” (Psalm 34:2) In other words, humility heals; arrogance divides and destroys. 

Please allow me to pose today’s question once more: “Does your mouth write checks that your life can’t cash?”  The implication of this interrogative is completely clear.  Even though we might accomplish great and grandiose things, it is OUR LORD who is the giver of “every good and every perfect gift.”  So whatever we ARE…whatever we DO…we must humbly recognize that it all comes “from ABOVE…from THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) Unquestionably, any exceptional value that is inscribed on OUR LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES has been sponsored, signed and sealed by The Bank of Heaven.  Therefore, we dare not ever trip!

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!