Paying to Caesar

 

And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”   Matthew 22:20

Generally speaking I let my husband worry about the financial aspects of our life. He is an accountant by education and interested in economics by nature. But every April 15^th my curiosity is piqued and I try to understand what we pay into the government and what it pays for. That was heightened this year by our sermon yesterday that landed on Matthew 22:21 in our study of the book of Matthew.

The verse says,  “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21). After church my husband and I got into a discussion of, “What is Caesar’s?” It is a hard question to answer. If Caesar claims everything that’s clearly usurping God’s domain (The earth is the Lord’s and all thereof Psalm 24:11).  But in many areas God has clearly delegated authority (including taxing authority) to the civil government.  Like the denarius the Pharisee handed to Jesus, our money is clearly marked as that of the United States of America. Is it the government’s money on loan to us? Or are our finances on loan from God but physically produced by our government?

I have no problem paying my taxes to keep our nation protected from enemy invaders. I want us to pay our share to keep the infrastructure of the country in good working order and safe for us to use. But, I want to draw the line at paying for Planned Parenthood to perform abortions and people to take advantage of a welfare system that allows healthy adults to collect “benefits” when they are capable of working. It scares me to think about what else there is that dishonors God in the way our nation spends taxpayer monies.

I question bills that pass in our House of Representatives and in the Senate. What has been added to them that we never see until we learn we’re paying for them? How is that we have come to a point that a defense bill that might make perfect sense would have added to it unrelated issues that get grouped into one vote?

Can the average citizen even really know all that the government has taken on financially when we have so little information coming to us? I guess if I were more diligent about paying attention rather than leaving it to others I could find out. I still get the paper but rarely read what the “pork” on any given bill might have added to it.

I have promised my allegiance to God before man or nation. I am guilt-ridden (or maybe just really confused) every year when we pay our taxes about how to handle the conflict within me between obeying this teaching of “paying to Caesar that which is Caesar’s” and the conviction I get about how that money is spent. And I am only beginning to come to grips with determining what is truly due to Caesar.  It cannot be anything he claims.

So, what recourse do I have? I am guilty of doing nothing and I know that is wrong. What I think I must do is take a more active interest in politics. Who is running for office and where do they stand on the issues that are important to me because they are important to God? Are they God-fearing men and women? What criteria are we using to cast our vote?

How about letters to the editor? I read a great one last week about marriage that made me wonder where the Pastor who wrote it preaches. He pointed right to the law of God as the judge of the laws of men. I admire him for standing up for the Word of God.

My husband pointed out to me yesterday that Jesus and His disciples were not persecuted because people were being saved from hell by their new faith. They were being persecuted because they were trying to influence people to believe that God’s Word is higher than Caesar’s.  Though I would not look forward to being persecuted I can be pretty sure that with my wimpy stand on God’s law I am under no real threat. My form of objecting to what the government does is of no threat to them at all. I am safe.

Maybe we  are all a little too concerned about our safety. We may need to pay our taxes every year but that does not mean that we need to stand by silently as the government moves farther and farther away from the Word of God.

How can we speak up in a way that we will be heard and our nation will be blessed of God for obeying His rule here?