Taxes.

Taxes.

Is there anything worse than filling out your tax returns? Nails screeching on a chalkboard while I was being tortured by the dentist would be less painful for me than dealing with tax returns. My main problem with doing them is that I feel like I am being accused and have to justify my innocence. I've heard so many horror stories of people making honest mistakes and then being penalized with drastic consequences. Christ actually commands us to pay our taxes, something we are accustomed to, however, He also has another requirement....

Matthew 12:13-17
¹³ Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. ¹⁴ When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵ Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?”
But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” ¹⁶ So they brought it.
And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
And they marveled at Him.

Are we giving to God the things that are rightfully His? Our government has ways of getting our taxes. They can get them through our paychecks, wage garnishments, freezing our assets and more. God however, doesn't force us to give Him the things that He requires. He doesn't force us to spend time with Him, to pray, to give offerings, to lay down our lives, etc... He could, but He doesn't. Furthermore, would you want to worship a god that did require that? Of course not! You may like that for a while, but soon the relationship would wear off and it would dwindle down and feel like you were only paying your "God Bill". It wouldn't be a relationship, it would be a debt we were constantly trying to pay.

The truth is, we could never repay God for our sins. We couldn't buy our way into His favor. What we can do is worship Him like there is no tomorrow. We can passionately pursue Him like we do the opposite sex. We can lavish Him with praise for the good times and the bad. We can love Him for doing what we couldn't do, which is purchase our forgiveness. We've been paying our taxes, but what do we need to give to God?