This is not the best analogy, but lets think of church as a bank. We can withdraw when we need, but we also need to deposit in it. We can also invest in it, and the rate of return is 100% (Parable of talents, lay up treasure in heaven, reward from God). However, the initial balance of our accounts is in immeasurable debts and our credits have been marred by sin and bankrupted. We cannot withdraw or invest, and there is no way we can get out of it because we have nothing.
But guess what the most amazing thing is? There is one and only one account that is not in debt in this bank, and that’s Jesus’ account, who is also the owner of the bank. His is overflow with credits of His righteousness, and He has transferred His credits into our accounts through grace so that ours, which were once bankrupted, can be restored and used to invest. We no longer have to worry whether our accounts have enough money in it when we invest. We no longer have to worry whether we will lose it all because our accounts are linked with Jesus’ forever and it will never run out.
Some of us though only keeps on withdrawing, stacking up cash in our wallets, flashing them into people’s face, using it as we pleased, and forgetting that it is not automated transfer and needs to be reauthorized with the account holder every time we need a transfer. When our own accounts run out, we blame the bank for not reminding us that we need to renew the transaction. We blame the bank for not providing services that we need. We blame the bank for having the wrong policy and regulations. We forgot our bank accounts in the past and how it has been restored. We thought that we have every right to say about the rules but we forgot that we do not own the bank. We then consider switching bank, except there is only one true bank with many branches, and others are simply frauds.
Church is not an ATM machine. It’s not there for us just to withdraw as we needed. Instead of asking for more, we need start to invest and put in what we have gained which don’t even belong to us in the first place. Only then we will begin to be amazed by the grace of the owner of the bank and realize that our accounts are not even ours.
