It’s the day dreaded by many, the day taxes are due. Some of us prepared our returns early, others waited until the last possible moment. The thing about taxes is, they come with real regularity. There is no escaping them. Eventually, we all have to pay up and settle our accounts.
The same may be said about our personal accounts of how we live our lives. We tend to think of our lives as our own. We live them the way we choose, sometimes not considering the results of our living. We pay attention to our careers and make sure we are doing all we can to advance in them. We pay attention to our finances, hoping they too will grow and advance. We pay attention to what interests us and what fulfills us.
Do we consider what God has said is required of us and how we live our lives? Tending to our spiritual lives is extremely important. The tax man cometh every year, so we know and can anticipate when we have to pay up. In regards to our spiritual lives, we don’t know when we will be called to account for all we’ve done, or not done. But the truth is, that day comes for all of us at some point.
The prophet Micah, in chapter 6:6-8, asks the question…
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come with burnt offerings with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
When we are all involved in the living of our own lives, how do we squeeze in what is required of us? Maybe how we live is more important than what we think. To do justice means we consider our actions in every situation. We treat people fairly alongside of being concerned for our own welfare. We uphold the cause of the vulnerable as much as we do our own. To love kindness is more than just doing some good things. It is really about our taking joy in showing mercy, kindness and forgiveness to those we encounter. Our heart delights in the acts of kindness toward others. To walk humbly with God means our life is lived in humility, acting and believing we are first and foremost an extension of God’s love. When we walk humbly, we do so because we have a close fellowship with God, rather than relying on our own pride or selfishness. We allow God to guide us, not our own ambitions.
Even though the tax man cometh every year on April 15th, God is with us each and every day. God sees and hears how we conduct ourselves. God is not the specter we see the tax authority as, rather God is patient with us as we try again and again to live as God desires. God wants our lives to be lived in a way where all experience love, compassion, grace, mercy and forgiveness. Our lives should reflect what we think of God. Would God do or say the things that come from us to our neighbors? Would God use violence, or mean spirited rhetoric to subjugate those who are different, or alien, or poor, or on the margins?
Every day we live, we wake up to the reality God wants to walk with us. God wants for us to see the world through God’s eyes. God knows how our lives can feel complete, whole and worthy when we are open to caring for all God’s children.
I don’t pretend to know how this tax season is turning out for you. What I do know is, when we walk with God, our lives just keep getting better and better. When our lives are getting better and better, its because we are caring about, and sharing all we know of God with all around us.
As we prepare our tax returns, lets also prepare our spiritual lives to return again to who God calls us to be. Let us love with a wide open heart. Let us give with an open hand. Let us share from our many blessings. Let us stand in solidarity with those who need to experience justice. And when we are called to account, may God say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom