Taxes!
Joe Slater
	Whoever said that “what goes up must come down” probably never paid taxes!
	Taxes were no more popular when Jesus walked the earth than they are now. In fact, one of the burning issues then was whether or not paying taxes to a heathen government (Rome) was lawful for a Jew. Some Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with that controversy (Luke 20:20-26, compare Matthew 22:15-22).
	A simple “yes” or “no” answer would have landed Jesus in a quagmire of dispute (which was precisely what His enemies wanted). Had He replied, “Yes, you should pay taxes,” they could have accused Him of being in sympathy with a pagan government, disloyal to Israel, etc. On the other hand, had He said, “No, don’t pay taxes to Rome,” they could have accused Him of treason and lawlessness. In fact, in Luke 23:2 they lied about Him anyway, claiming that He had forbidden payment of taxes to Caesar.
	Instead of a direct “yes” or “no” answer, Jesus gave them an object lesson. Looking at a denarius (coin), He asked, “Whose image and inscription is this?” (Luke 22:20). They correctly replied that the coin bore Caesar’s image and writing. This being the case, Caesar had a legitimate claim on the coin. “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Luke 22:21).
	Human beings are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). God’s children have His word inscribed upon our hearts. God has a legitimate claim on you. Your loyalty ought to be to Him. Paying taxes, however, does not mitigate against that loyalty. In fact, Paul taught in Romans 13 that part of our duty to God is the payment of taxes to the government. That obligation remains even when we strongly disagree with how some of the funds are spent (and most of us do).
	You are doing the right thing by filling out that 1040 form. Oh, by the way, you may not know when you’re well off, but the IRS does!
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Keeping Vision
	About 350 years ago a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America.
	The first year, they established a town site.
	The next year they elected a town government.
	The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.
	On the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles into the wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway?
	Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an open ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But within a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their vision.
	With a vision of what we can become in Christ, no ocean of difficulty is too great or too vast. Without that vision, we rarely move beyond our current boundaries.
	--Eric Snyder (via KneeMail)
Unforeseeable Results
	It's amazing!  I just read that taxpayers are still paying for the Civil War.  At least two families are being compensated $876 a year.  Actually, compensation is still being paid out by the government to survivors or their offspring for most of the wars fought by this country.  These payouts are those unforeseen costs of going to war.  Tax payers today shell out at least $20 million a year for W.W.I families; $5 billion a year for W.W.II families.  Since 1970, post war benefits have exceeded $270 billion.
	Without going into the war issue, I think there's a vitally important lesson to be learned here.  The consequences of our choices are never fully seen at the time of our choices.  This is true of good choices as well as bad.
	With regard to good choices,  Jesus said a person would be rewarded for giving just a cold glass of water to someone in need (Mark 10:42).  We don't stop to think, "Now I wonder what good can come from this act of kindness?"  It's best we don't think in this fashion, but it is worth understanding how God works in the scheme of things.  Don't underestimate the good you can do by a single, solitary act of kindness!  Many have been led to Christ from some simple gesture of kindness.
	On the other hand, we cannot measure the consequences of our bad choices either.  We are not isolated creatures.  Paul points this out even about our choices of food and drink.  How much more is this true in those matters that are greater than issues of neutrality!  "For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's" (Romans 14:7-8 NASU).
	--Rob Redden (Arroyo Grande, CA)