Until now you have asked for nothing in My name.
Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
John 16:24, HCSB
It happened one day early in 2008. Barry and Alissa sat down in a booth in Dr. Salami’s Café in Pella, Iowa, fully expecting that it would be an ordinary meal on an ordinary day. They were enjoying their meal when an older man came into the restaurant and began to talk with them. When he asked about their children, they told him of their two-year-old girl and said one day they hoped to have more.
The older man then slid a blank check across the table, and told them to write in any amount they chose. “I’m good for it,” he told them. There were conditions: they could not reveal their last names or his name; they had to use the money to buy or build a house; and they should name their next child after him.
What would you think if something like this happened to you? That the stranger was a little bit “off,” right? That’s what Barry and Alissa thought. But playing along, and maybe a little fearful if they didn’t, they agreed to the terms and filled in the check for $100,000. It would bounce, and that would be the end of that.
But it didn’t bounce. The check cleared, much to their surprise. Apparently, this stranger makes a habit of doing things like this. He told the couple that he liked to hang out near the check-out lines at Wal-Mart and pay for people’s items. Once he even bought a new car for a stranger. After telling the young couple these things, he left a tip for $100 for the waitress.
The question we all have in our minds is “What would have happened if the young couple had written the check for one million dollars?”
Jesus has told us that if we ask anything in His name, He would do it. In effect, He has given us a blank check, with some restrictions, just like the old gentleman in the café. Now, did the old man really mean it, or was it a joke? And did Jesus really mean what He said, or was He just joking?
I wonder if in Heaven somewhere there is a vast storeroom, filled with all the blessings and rewards God was so willing to lavish on His children–but those blessings were never given because they were never asked for.
I also wonder what would happen if we really, really, REALLY took Him at His word? He’s good for it.
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com