The Tax Man
Tax Day is May 17th this year… weird. Another Covid Anomaly. When most of us hear the words “Tax Man” or “Tax Return Filing Day,” we get heart palpitations. Why? Because we’re afraid to owe the government money. Now, imagine that your business files its tax return and finds out it owes an enormous amount of money, the kind of amount that would keep you up at night trying to figure out how you could ever pay it. You lay in bed filled with fear and dread because the taxman always gets what’s his - no matter what... kind of like a horror story.
That feeling, its nothing compared to judgment day.
You see, we all actually DO have a debt we can’t pay. When we have to account for the way we spent our lives, it will become clear that we all have a load of sin… and the cost of it is death. Many of us have lived our lives imagining a cosmic scale at the end of it all, hoping that our good deeds outweigh our bad and thus give us a ticket to heaven... but that turns out was a lie because God’s standard is PERFECTION. Our sin is a debt with a guaranteed death sentence, and there is nothing we can do to pay the bill, good deeds and all. Now that is a horror story.
You can’t pay God back with your good deeds, you can’t scam the heavenly ledger, and you sure can’t escape the death sentence delivered. It’s hopeless.
But then Jesus rescued us! He said, “I will pay the sin debt for you; you just need to give your old life to me in exchange for a new one that comes without a death sentence.”
That is good news! I owed God an unpayable debt, and then Jesus paid for it all!
It’s like a millionaire came into your business and said, “I want to pay for that ridiculously enormous tax bill.” Can you imagine the relief? The Gospel is that but a trillion times more! Yet all around you are other people who don’t know the truth about their death sentence yet. They think they don’t own anything or that their good deeds will outweigh their bad when giving an account. They have been lied to and misled by the enemy of their souls, who wants them to live in ignorance until cosmic Tax Day is upon us and it’s too late.
But guess what? God put you right where you are – your job, your neighborhood, your friends – so that you could go and give the good news to those who need to be delivered from death to life. Everyone is searching for hope these days. With so many dead from COVID-19, millions of people have realized that life is fragile and can be lost at a moment’s notice. There has never been a better time to share the Gospel.
Look around you. Do all your co-workers know your story? Do you love them enough to be vulnerable in order to deliver them from a death sentence? Be a warrior and rob Hell of another resident!
But make sure you pay your taxes.
Jim
About the Author, Jim Brangenberg
Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!