Uncashed Checks

Last night, I ran across one of my royalty checks from the sale of my first book that I initially received three months ago. I accidently found it because I was looking for a more recent royalty check. The reason why I had not cashed the older check was because it was so small and because I forgotten that I had it.

Thinking about those two checks led me to think about how we Christian singles leave "spiritual checks" uncashed. We often assume that what God has for us, we are guaranteed to receive. But that is not really true. Sometimes we do not "cash in" on the blessings He wants to grant us. How do we leave God's checks uncashed?

• We allow others to distract us from the blessings God has for us. Those we trust or care about may talk us out of something and we fall for it, hook, line and sinker.
• We choose to listen to our egos instead of the will of God. Some of us are so comfortable with what we THINK we know, that God is wasting His breath when He talks to us. His word just falls on deaf ears.
• We get God's voice mixed up with our own. As we mature, we become comfortable with how things should be or how we will react. For example, if our romantic partner cheats on us, we automatically discard the relationship when it may be God's will that we stay in that relationship. Other examples are when we end platonic friendships rather than try to work things out or when we try to impose our will on other people. Who's in charge here, us or God? Let's learn to discern between our voices and THE voice of God.
• We don't perform the "basic stuff" of Christian walk consistently. We often do not pray or read the Bible or pay our tithes or serve others in the spirit of true humility enough. Thus, we tend to be so consumed with battling "spiritual viruses" that we miss out on the big blessings God has in store for us.
• Sometimes we view the blessings God is offerring us as too small or not worth our effort to "cash" them in. God blesses us with a car, but if it not a Mercedes Benz, we don't want it! Whether we admit it or not, we Christian singles often do that in our family, platonic and/or romantic relationships. Often we spend more time tearing each other down or criticizing each other that it really is a MIRACLE when we form healthy relationships.

There are many more examples, but the point is we have a part to play in this partnership we have with God. Those royalty checks I have not cashed yet have my name on them. But, they do not do me any good if I don't deposit them. The same is true for the many opportunities we squander to be blessed. The more I think aobut it, the crazier it is not to reap the benefits of those checks. Are you being just as crazy by not cashing in on everything that God has signed over to you with your name on it?