Lesson 117: What’s in Your Wallet?

Kentucky Chaplain David Chaltas

What’s in your wallet? What’s in your heart? What have you done for Christ lately? This weekend I had the unbelievable privilege of hearing Brother Ron Powell speak on the above subject. His words filled the tent with contemplation on what have we done for Christ today and if you were called to task this moment, what would be in your wallet? It reminded me of the moments prior to the battle when the officers would plead with the men to empty their pockets of anything that they would not wish for their mothers to see or receive if they fell in battle. As Rick Revel sang Amazing Grace like I have NEVER heard it sung, I thought, “What is truly on my plate this day? Have I given my all to Christ? Did I pass up an opportunity of allowing Christ’s light to be seen through me?”

The 145th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh was honored by an all-out effort on the part of the organizers to give the people a sense of what it was like to actually be at the battle. Nothing went to chance as they put on a reenactment that will be talked about the next hundred years. They offered their full measure to ensure that the event went well. The place of peace became the haven of war, as all participants performed until they could give no more. I saw what was in their wallets! They were there to honor their ancestors. They were there to remember their heritage and to burn powder. They were there because of duty. But how many carried with them, in their wallet of life, Christ’s light? Oh, the tent was full with worshippers and the presence of our Almighty King was there. But did I carry my charge to those that could not attend service? I pray that my persona was and is a beacon reflecting the greatness of God. For I was blind but now I see! I am but a vessel with little in his wallet other than my faith in the promises of our Savior. But what if Christ said, “Father, I do not wish to be beaten, hang on a tree or to be pierced in the side, nor do I wish to offer my life for those people.” What if He did not have unconditional love for His father and we mortals that take so much for granted? What if he did not have our interest in His wallet? What a friend we have in Jesus! Is it not wondrous that we, filled with sin, will have the Jesus Christ interceding on behalf of our transgressions! Envision this scene: As we walk towards the guardian of the gates, St. Peter checks our wallet and finds it void of sustenance and just before he closes the gates of heaven, Christ, our benefactor, steps forward and says, “I have paid his debt out of my wallet, through my flesh and blood.” John 3:16 states it so well. What a wondrous gift! But we cannot simply keep it to ourselves. We must give it away. Let us embrace the charge of Christ, to go out into the world and make fishers of men of others, so that when we are called across the great divide, we will have a wallet worthy of being opened, through God’s mercies.