I finally got around to doing my taxes this week—frightful experience!  Last year I got a sizable refund.  This year, when Turbo Tax and I finished the dreaded deed, I owed many, many dollars!  How could this be?

After much examination, I determined that the reason for the difference was that since my husband passed away, I can no longer file married but must file single.  It just didn’t seem quite fair!

On a lighter note, some of our worst times together as a couple were as we sat down to do our taxes!  Only the more “mature” among us remember pre-computer days when you had to spend hours and hours filling out tax forms by hand and calculating everything with a calculator!  I’m sure if Gerry could look down from heaven, he would be saying, “Thank you, Lord, that I don’t have to be involved with her again in that experience!”

Seriously, though, this was no laughing matter!  How could I owe more in income tax now that I am a widow, and I actually have less income coming in?  Puzzling!

To make matters worse, the Lord and I “discussed” this problem for days.  I raved and ranted, and he gently referred me to his Word. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all report an incident where Jesus basically said, “pay your taxes.”

“Well, then,” he (Jesus) said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”  (Matthew 22:18-21, Mark 12:13-17, Luke 20:20-26)

Like a petulant child, I wanted a reprieve, but it did not come!  My only other options were either illegal or immoral, and I didn’t want to choose those paths.  The Word is pretty clear about lying or stealing!

To add insult to injury, I opened www.biblegateway.com  on my last day to procrastinate, and the verse for the day from was from Paul:

“Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.” Romans 13:6-7 NLT

Umm!  “Government workers” need to be paid.  Give respect and honor to those in authority.  Was the Lord speaking to me?  What was He trying to say?  In a matter of a few short minutes, he confronted my “stinking thinking” with seven reminders of why I should just stop procrastinating and pay up:

First, He seemed to be saying, you enjoy living in the United States of America—the greatest country on the face of the earth.  While it is seriously flawed right now, it is still a country where you are free—free to complain openly about your taxes!  To protect that freedom, we need a strong military.  Taxes pay their salaries.

Second, as a retired teacher, you were one of those “government workers” for 30 years.  Your daughter-in-law is a teacher today.  Your very livelihood was paid for through taxes!

Third, you are the product of a free public education.  Though our education system is also imperfect, you are the person you are today thanks to an education your parents could not have afforded to pay for.

Fourth, your current income is partially paid for through our Social Security System.  Though also unsound, it is the primary method of support for millions of seniors.

Fifth, you, along with all seniors, enjoy low-cost health care.  Though faulty as well, it is still available.  When you broke your neck recently and had to be hospitalized, your bills were very low thanks to Medicare and a supplemental health care plan.

Sixth, your taxes help provide food for many people who live on very meager incomes or have no income at all.  Your taxes put food on their tables and a roof over their heads.  Even though the welfare system is greatly abused, it is still a means of providing for the poor, and the scriptures tell us to take care of the needy.

Seventh, Jesus loved tax collectors–just like He loves you!  Tax collectors were considered notorious sinners in Jesus’ day.  All children in Sunday School learn about Zacchaeus, the wee little tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus.  After Jesus went home with him for supper, he was saved and gave up his sinful ways.  The apostle Matthew was another tax collector Jesus saved and then used to write an account of his birth, death, and resurrection.

While the IRS is not popular today, especially since the abuses against conservatives in recent years and the apparent corruption in the system today, it is our current method of funding our government.  If we don’t like it, we can vote for new leadership and pray they change the system.  (Hopefully, the new tax structure for 2018 will actually be an improvement!)

The bottom line:  The Lord seemed to be telling me to stop complaining and pay my taxes!  And so I did!  I wrote out my check—still a little reluctantly–but with gratitude rather than whining about it.

My only wish as I signed it:  that I could do as Jesus did and send one of my sons down to the lake behind my house and catch a special fish!

^“On their arrival in Capernaum, the collectors of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked him, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the Temple tax?”

“Yes, he does,” Peter replied. Then he went into the house.

 But before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Peter? Do kings tax their own people or the people they have conquered?” 

“They tax the people they have conquered,” Peter replied.

“Well, then,” Jesus said, “the citizens are free!  However, we don’t want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin.  Take it and pay the tax for both of us.”  (Matt. 17:24-27 NLT)

Now that’s what I call a perfect solution to a tax problem!

What about you?  Any comments or insights?  I would love to hear from you!