How do we treat a blank cheque?

It's not usual for me to post sermon notes here - particularly now I work off dot points, but I feel this one asks some questions that are worth distributing, so I hope anyone who reads it finds it useful.

Readings:
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

How do we treat a blank cheque?

I must admit that when I read the Gospel reading for today I wished it would be part of the story we should skip. Where is God in this story of ancient palace ritual, a twisted family dynamic and the horrible manipulative murder of a man who died for his faithfulness to God?

But gifts are a big part of today's stories:
David moving the ark of the covenant to his capital the final claim of becoming King- a realisation of God's promised gift
Herod's daughter offered the fairytale gift voucher "anything, up to half the kingdom"

We too have an enormous gift, a blank cheque if you will, we have a God who died to save us from our sins before we could do anything to deserve it.

How do we respond to a gift of such magnitude from our creator?

Let's look at the two stories in some depth...three ways

What was the pattern of giving?
David lived a life that lived within the presence and gifts of God
Herod's daughter shocked by the gift - a one-off

Secondly the manner in which is given?
David was given the promise as a free gift
Herod's daughter given the gift as a reward for distateful and humiliating service

Thirdly how did they respond?
David gives lavish gifts to God and others- grows closer to God and community
Herod's wife uses gift as an opportunity to justify herself, to silence and critic and secure her own position - but would this have been an act that drew her closer to her husband or bred resentment?

So how, now do we respond to the gifts of God and what does it say about our relationship with God?
Do we trust in the ongoing grace of God or try to secure ourselves and rewrite our pasts?
Do we see what we have as a gift to be shared with God and the world, or do we try top grasp.
In essence, do we see the love of God as a limited resource, or are we willing to share the love around?