I get my daily verse from Bible Gateway and today's verse literally made me go, "Hmmm how am I going to elaborate on this"?
Well I'll try and let's just say that one verse is not going to be sufficient.
The verse today is:
Romans 13:6= "This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing".
I feel like the only way we can really dive into this verse is if we read the verses leading up to this Romans 13:1-5="Let everyone be subject to governing authorities, for there is no authority except for that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
I still feel a little uneasy about this scripture. I feel like it's saying that we should trust our government because it was appointed by God, but I'm sure many of us think that our government is farther from God than it should be. We think government and we think corruption and disdain.
So how can we break this down and apply it to current day?
Verse 6 our main focus today talks about taxes, but for some reason when I think of authorities and those that "give their full time to governing" I am actually brought back to the heads of our churches. I think of the taxes more as tithe. We should tax ourselves 10% and give that to the church so that the individuals whom God has appointed to lead us will be paid for their services.
I may be taking this completely out of context in fact I am sure I am.
If we think about regular taxes I'm sure many of us dread the beginning of the year when we gather all our paperwork and either prepare our taxes ourselves or have someone do it for us.
I know that I worry that MAYBE THIS year I didn't pay enough out of my paycheck and WHAT IF we own money?
I can say that we have been blessed enough to never have to pay taxes.
Obviously if you work you are supposed to pay taxes.
Yet we hear stories of celebrities who get caught up in tax evasion and own millions of dollars.
We have heard of people being audited and owing money.
Why do people try so hard to hide money.
Like the scripture says: "Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason."
I know that if I am ever audited I should be fine, I have, to the best of my knowledge done everything I can to pay my fair share. I know that I am free of punishment from the government because I have done nothing wrong.
How about we apply this concept of government to any authority figures we have in our lives.
If we do good we have nothing to fear, if we are sneaky and do wrong we should be nervous because we will be found out and punished.
I'm not saying don't question authority, but I'd like to remind everyone to pray for our authorities.
Because whether you chose them or not they are here for the time and all we can do is pray God's will over them.
Again, I'm sorry if this was a rambling post....I'm definitely still working on how to best approach these Bible Verse Fridays.
Have a blessed Friday!
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