Checking Our Balance

Some people I know never balance their checkbooks. They run financially off monthly statements or view their accounts on line, but never run a full balance sheet of their accounts. I on the other hand, want to know. In years past I would obsess over even a few cents if the account didn't balance. Today (my wife now balances our account a discipline which she took over years ago likely because she got tired of my stress), I can tolerate being even a few dollars off, but I still want to know "how much" is in there, even when we're not living with a specific budget concern.

What it is about the "balance" of my checking account that provokes me to want to know what it is with pinpoint accuracy, I don't know. With the advent of on-line banking, it is certainly easier to attain necessary information, but the ready availability of that information could drive me to nearly obsessive tendency if I allowed it.

A close friend of mine often chides me for necessarily having to balance my checkbook before writing my weekly tithe check. We laugh about it, but for some reason it makes things "right" in my little world to know how much is in there before I contribute. (Yeah, I know... If I was really "with it" I'd utilize online giving - but I appreciate the "worship" of writing a check. Call it habit, call if old fashioned I guess -- maybe it is one of the virtues of being "half-way-to-ninety."

If we consider our lives as living "checking accounts," I wonder would we be aware of our balance? What if we considered the number of our God-given days (Ps. 139) as a balance sheet and then spent the minutes, hours, days and years as we would write checks or swipe debit cards. How generous would I be?

By this point in my life, would I have more money than I know what to do with? In a spiritual sense, by having too much money in my account, I would actually be "in debt" -- guilty of taking much grace, mercy and love but not being willing to spend it on others. Spiritually in debt.

While we may be concerned about the "bottom line" of our financial accounts, perhaps we would do well to give the same level of concern to our spiritual accounts as well. Instead of going online, I'm going to spend more time with the Lord and see if I can find the "bottom line" on my life account.