Had a conversation the other day with a man who rides his motorcycle on a local toll road yet doesn’t pay tolls.
It’s not that he’s privileged under the law.
Instead, he’s just turned his license plate holder in such a way in order to be obscured from the camera recording license plates of non-payers.
He’s gotten away with it because the plate is still visible from the rear to those in following vehicles. That’s why the police haven’t pulled him over.
The man, I’ll call him Sammy, smiles when asked why he’s doing such a thing, rationalizing that if he received a bill, he would pay it.
Since he hasn’t been billed, though, he hasn’t felt convicted.
Hmmmm…..
I’m reminded of Luke 20:25 where Jesus said believers are to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
Government-approved taxes are not something we are to simply ignore, even if we don’t like them.
It’s the law.
Just because we haven’t been caught, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been wrong.
If we don’t like the law, we should work within the system to vote in people who will repeal the tax or reduce the take.
But picking and choosing which tax law we’ll follow doesn’t line up with Jesus’ teaching.
Of course, not giving worship offerings to God also doesn’t line up with Jesus’ teaching.
There were established tax rates in Jesus’ day and people knew them. He called them to follow them.
There were established worship offering rates in Jesus’ day and people knew them. It began with the tithe (10 percent of gross income) and to that were added other required offerings during the year. Taken together, the average Jewish family understood “what is God’s” to mean much more than 10 percent.
Please make sure that you’re not a tax or toll cheat. That just means that others will have to make up for your skipping out on the tax bill.
And please make sure that you don’t cheat God with the offerings He expects.
That just means that other people at church will have to make up for your skipping out on sharing ministry costs for God’s Kingdom. And it means that you’ll miss out on the blessings that God would send your way when you send obedient tithes and other offerings His way.
As always, I love you
Martin
