Have you ever been given a blank check? Very few people have, but allow me to share with you a story of a wealthy man who chose three men off the street and gave them each a blank check, ensuring each of them that they could write whatever amount they desired and it would be given to them. The first man scoffed at the whole idea, assuming that it was a joke or a prank of some kind and refused the check outright and walked away. The second man was enraged because he saw the wealthy man's gesture as an insult to his own ego, and in a prideful fit, tore the check into pieces, threw the pieces on the ground and stormed off. The third man said “Thank you.” and accepted the check, but as he thought more about it, he began to believe that this was actually some kind of test of his character, and so he only wrote a modest amount of twenty dollars. When the wealthy man saw it he said to him “Sir, why did you take so little? You could have added many zeros to this number?”. The other man replied “I suppose I didn't really trust you.”. The wealthy man responded “Nobody did.”.
We also have been given a blank check from our Heavenly Father, with the assurance that we can take as much as we want from Him. Yet there are many people – both believers and not – who fall into the category of one of the three men from our story. The focus of our study today is going to be this blank check of ours and how to truly take advantage of it, and in so doing bring joy to our Father in Heaven.