I used to play a little joke on my sweet wife Terri by pretending I had forgotten my wallet when the cashier finished ringing up our purchase or when the waiter would bring our check to the table when dining out.
Then one day it happened, I really didn’t have my wallet!
Thankfully, Terri had enough cash in her purse to cover the bill. The waiter laughed, and I laughed, but Terri… she wasn’t laughing.
Needless to say, I don’t play that little joke anymore.
What that little episode reminds me of is the fact that I acted like I had something that I didn’t, and when it finally came time to pay, I was in big trouble.
There is a powerful thought that Paul captures for us in the book of Romans chapter 4, and verses 6-8, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
Now the word “imputeth” he uses here is very interesting. It means to put on one’s account.
In other words, to the person who is a Christian, he is blessed because God has made a withdrawal of the sin in a man’s life and deposited righteousness in its place, and the best part is that is costs that man nothing!
That my friend, is an investment strategy that anyone on Wall Street would love to have.
Think of it, you come to the Lord with a life of sin and shame, and there is absolutely nothing you can offer to cover the price of sin.
Then God, for Christ’s sake, forgives you of your sin just for asking and believing in Him. At that moment, far removed from the physical eye’s ability to observe, a transaction takes place.
The believer’s sin is withdrawn from his eternal account and in its place, righteousness is deposited. You come to God overdrawn with the burden is sin and leave in right standing with the creator of the universe.
Allow me to illustrate this for you.
Let’s say that I am very wealthy, I’m not, but for the story’s sake, let’s say that I am. And let’s say that I want to give you one thousand dollars.
I don’t particularly, but for conversation’s sake let’s say that I do.
So, I go to your bank and I walk in and say, “I want to deposit one thousand dollars in your account.”
I make the deposit and leave.
A little later in the day you come into the bank and the teller tells you that Pastor Tim was in and deposited one thousand dollars in your account.
You are stunned, you can’t believe it.
But it’s true she says, and to prove it she takes from her cash drawer ten crisp one-hundred-dollar bills and after counting them out places them into your hand.
At that point are you are able to spend the money, why? Because it was in your account.
Now a danger arises when we act like we are in a right relationship with God and in reality, our account in very much in the red.
I was kidding when I would pretend not to have my wallet but pretending we haven’t sin in our lives when we know that we do, that’s a risk that could cost a person eternity.
FB Meyer once observed, “This is the bitterest of all – to know that suffering need not have been; that it has resulted from indiscretion and inconsistency; that it is the harvest of one’s own sowing; that the vulture which feeds on the vitals is a nestling of one’s own rearing. Ah me! This is pain!”
Jerry Lambert shares the story of a schoolteacher who lost her lifesavings in a business scheme that had been elaborately explained by a swindler.
When her investment disappeared and her dream was shattered, she went to the Better Business Bureau.
“Why on earth didn’t you come to us first?” the official asked. “Didn’t you know about the Better Business Bureau?”
“Oh, yes,” said the lady sadly. “I’ve always known about you. But I didn’t come because I was afraid you’d tell me not to do it.”
The folly of human nature is that even though we know where the answers lie – God’s Word – we don’t turn there for fear of what it will say.
Today you may have realized that your spiritual wallet is empty, and you may even know how to come to the Lord and have your account settled, but for whatever reason, you choose to let the account go unsettled.
This is not about standing in front of a waiter with no money to pay for your food; it’s about standing before a just God with your spiritually bankrupt.
So, let me ask you today. “What’s in your wallet?”

Tim Throckmorton is the national director of Family Resource Council’s Community Impact Teams.