In January, Pastor Jason Holt titled his article “Whose Likeness?”  He made this statement:  “We find clarity from Christ to engage in the civic realm. We are citizens of an earthly state, in which we can pray for our leaders, participate in public activities, and pay our taxes.”  With the day in which we are forced to interact with Uncle Sam fast approaching, it’ll be good to align our attitude with the call of God’s Word.

In the sentence above from Jason’s article, he has used the permissive – “can” rather than the mandatory – “shall” or “must”.  The attitude called up by “can” is where we should be.

Job 1:21 is familiar to many of us.  He has just had his children and wealth taken from him.  In his grief he blesses God, acknowledging that all that he had was from God’s hand.  “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

As the, to many, aggravating day arrives, we may have “given” grudgingly and of necessity; Uncle Sam prying his due out of our bloody hands.  Yes, as Jason reminded us, Christ drew the line of “whose is what” correctly – it is all God’s.

So, if I see paying taxes that are rightly due to the United States’ Treasury as a God-given opportunity to live faithfully as I steward God’s money into the hands of the government He has established for my good, then I have “given” cheerfully and not grudgingly.  Yes, I should engage as I am able in redressing ways in which I see the government ruling in ways that violate God’s Word.  But I believe God is pleased with my seeing the government as God’s servant as I pay my taxes.

Maybe not a joyful day, but still one in which I demonstrate being a good and faithful steward of what God has entrusted to me.