The expression originated in the poker games of America's old West and describes a tactic used to prevent dealers from cheating. The "buck" (a knife with a handle made from an antler)was passed to the person sitting next to the dealer as each hand was played. Whoever held the buck was the next dealer. At times the deck of cards was changed as the dealer changed....all in an effort ensure fair play.
I'm not a gambler, but I have played poker in casual settings...and often the dealer will agitate (or encourage) as he/she offers comments on the cards that are falling:
"Possible full house"
"Building sevens"
or....
"You've got nothin'"
The dealer of the cards has much to say about the pace of the game as well as the attitude of the players around the table.
Half the fun of observing a card game is to listen to the banter of an entertaining dealer!!!
"The buck stops here" was used by President Truman to say that the President has to make the decisions and accept the ultimate responsibility for those decisions.
How do these thoughts relate to the life of faith? Well...I can envision our innate abiities and our tools of faith as the cards we hold as we participate in life. I can see Christ as the dealer of those cards. I can hear His words, confronting us and encouraging us regarding how we can "play" those cards for the good of others.
And I can hear the Lord saying: "Go and do this! I am with you. I love you, and you are mine...The Buck Stops Here!"
Christ is the source of wisdom and power that compels us and equips us to do amazing things. Christ is at the center of whatever good we can do.
When we talk about doing things "through Christ" or "in His Holy Name", we are proclaiming that we do indeed hear his words that both activate and encourage us: "I am with you. Take heart...be strong..."The buck stops here!"
When things are going well, we may be tempted to take the credit. When things are rocky...or when we avoid doing the good we might do, we may be tempted to shift the burden of responsibility to somebody else (who, me????) But then we are reminded that the grace of God claims that burden of responsibility and then frees us "in Christ", empowering us to do amazing things "in His Holy Name".
In all situations the "buck" stops in Christ...the center of all that we are and all that we do. To Him and Him alone be all praise and glory.
Acts 4:8-13
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is
'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
it has become the cornerstone.'
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.
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