Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Romans 13:1-6 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing.
THE GOVERNING AUTHORITIES
Well, today's the day. Are your taxes done? As Christians, let us pay our taxes to our government dutifully and cheerfully. First of all, we can be happy to pay our taxes because we are obeying God, but also let us be happy to support our government because of all of the wonderful blessings we receive from it.
Because our government is a human organization, it will always have its problems; however, compared with other governments around the world, United States citizens have it very good. We can always make the argument that our tax dollars could be better spent, but compared with the corruption that occurs in many places in this world (and throughout the course of history), we have a lot to be thankful for with regard to the government that God has appointed over us. For example, as is touched upon in our reading for today, think about the relative peace and safety that we have come to expect in our communities because our government officials have used our tax dollars to keep law and order, prosecuting criminals.
Our God-appointed government, supported by our tax dollars, is just one more undeserved blessing that comes to us from the One who has given the ultimate blessings of forgiveness of sins and salvation through Jesus.
