A Christ-like Attitude Toward Taxes
Have you ever heard the phrase, “The only thing certain in life are death and taxes?” That’s a pretty depressing statement because neither is particularly pleasant. Luckily, as Christians, we have a great solution to the certainty of death – we get to spend eternity in Heaven with our Father! But… taxes, well, we don’t have a way out of that.
I don’t know about you, but every April when I sit down to complete my taxes, I get so frustrated. It is tedious and takes hours, just to send my money to a government that so often wastes our taxpayer dollars. I’d much rather be giving that money to a cause that will build God’s Kingdom.
However, that is not the attitude Jesus wants us to have toward paying our taxes. The account shared in Mark 12:13-17 shows that Jesus expects us to pay our taxes. To set the stage a bit, remember that in Jesus’ time, Judea was under Roman jurisdiction. There was tremendous tension between the Jews and the Romans, and the Romans treated the Jews with suspicion at best and animosity at worst. In fact, these tensions boiled over not long after Jesus’ death, causing the destruction of the Temple.
One of the primary frustrations of the Jews was the amount of taxes they were required to pay to Rome. We may dislike taxes now, but the Jews hated paying taxes to Rome. So, you can imagine how Jesus’ statement, “Render unto Caesar’s what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s” went over. The Jews felt they had justification to refuse to pay taxes, yet Jesus commanded them to comply. The same command exists for us today.
No matter your political opinion, we can all agree that Washington D.C. is full of corruption and people seeking their own power and glory. Can you believe that God put them in power? Well, that’s exactly what the Bible says.
Romans 13:1 says, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
Notice there is no caveat here on whether we believe the leader is wicked. In fact, the Bible is full of instances where God used a despicable leader to bring about his plan and purpose. We are to obey our leaders unless they are asking us to do something directly contrary to God’s Word.
Remember that our money is God’s money, anyway. God knows what the tax rate is, and He has commanded us to pay those taxes. When we view our finances through God’s lens, it becomes a lot easier to part with the money that is going to taxes. We may not agree with how the money is being spent, but we can trust that God has placed our leaders in authority and He will use them to accomplish his plans.