Taxes w/God...?
It's that lovely season again...
Tax season!!
Yaaay... (not really)
Is it just me or does the idea of the government getting their grubby hands on my hard earned dollars just make your stomach turn?
And the government is full of corruption so it's easy to think I can manage my money and be generous better than they can, right?
Do you FEEL me on this?!
Well, that's all fine and dandy,
But the one question I never really asked was...
"What does God think say about paying taxes?"
Ehhh?!?!
Is this even something that can be answered in the bible?
Surprisingly YES.
But our HUMAN brains may fight the instructions Jesus gave.
Because the HUMAN (smart business person's) way of dealing with taxes is...
Write off EVERYTHING, AS MUCH AS YOU CAN as expenses.
Duuuhhh!
Who wouldn't, right?
Now for some REAL talk...
How do you handle expense-ing the borderline items?
How about the ones that look like business but is really personal?
How far do you stretch the line to write off things as a business expense?
What does GOD have to say about it?
"Then Jesus said to them, 'Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.'"
Wait.
That's too clear cut.
That's too simple.
Isn't there a more "business savvy" version available?
Well, like most everything,
Jesus has a way of keeping things simple.
Even if the IRS tax code is a billion pages long,
God's answer is simple.
Be honest.
How honest is that exactly? (Riiiight?)
The most simple answer is this.
When you stand in front of Jesus to give an account for all that you have stewarded for Him, you want to be able to look at Jesus and say "I paid taxes in a way that would represent you well and DELIGHT you."
In short, if you know in your gut that you're crossing the line...
It's wrong.
If you're cutting the corners so hard that it's starting to smell funny,
It's wrong.
If you know you're getting away with something that only you know,
It's wrong.
Listen, this is not my default mode.
This is not a "natural" or easy conversation for me either.
And it will result in me paying more taxes, but if that is what Jesus is telling me to do, then I will.
If being Jesus quality honest cost me money, then so be it.
If representing Jesus in excellence cost me money, so be it.
HOWEVER...
I'm NOT saying be stupid and not write off anything.
It's 100% legit to write off EVERYTHING that is legit and legal.
I'm just addressing the things unseen,
The things in our hearts that God knows about.
The things we will have to account for when we go to heaven.
Just sayin...
It's that time of year.
Tax season.
Make Jesus proud!
Remember that God paves his streets with gold so He's got more where that came from.
God has no shortage of blessings.
It's us who blocks the good stuff with our own hidden corruption.
So this year, let's come clean in a way that is holy and pleasing to God.
Cheers to doing taxes with God! ^_^
