Do The Right Thing

Matthew 22:21:

They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”

And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

We need to do the right thing. Why, you might ask? Because Jesus said so.  Jesus told the pharisees that they had to pay their taxes to Caesar. Now, we must remember, that the Romans were oppressing the Jews, they weren’t friends of the Jews, they were dominating the Jews, and yet Jesus still said, you need to pay your taxes.

I remember many years ago, we were at a farmers’ meeting. They had a panel of men, I was one of them (I don’t really like panels, I’m not very good at it) and the group of farmers, a large group, maybe over two hundred of them were asking questions. One of the old farmers, a wily old gentleman, said I want to ask you a question Angus, is it right to pay income tax to a government that you do not agree with? And of course, there was an instant hush in the hall as everybody wanted to know what the outcome was. And then I remembered this very story.  I said does anybody have a ten rand note, and he said, yes, he has one. I said have a look at the note, whose head is on that note? They said the South African government. I answered the very same question that the master answered, we need to pay to the South African government what belongs to it and we need to render to God the things that are God’s, and the place went quiet.  So often, we feel that we can cheat the tax man, we don’t pay VAT, we think we’re very clever. Maybe we do fool the income tax man, but you will never fool God.

If you want a blessing from God, you have to do what God has asked you to do.  You cannot expect God to bless your business and your work if you are not obeying the law.  We don’t do it for the government, we do it for God.

Jesus bless you
Angus & Jill Buchan