The Tax Man
“freely you have received, freely give” Matthew 10:8
Freely – Money, sex and power. The world’s great motivators. Every one of them deeply spiritual. But maybe you never thought about it like that. Money is the most pervasive spiritual commodity in the world. It is the single purest measure of submission and humility. The testing ground for real understanding and obedience. Money is that spiritual place where I get to decide if I am in charge of my life. Money is the spiritual fulcrum that balances gift with reward. Free with earn. Grace with merit. To make a mistake about the spiritual dimension of money is to wander into a blind alley of desperate seeking.
Once before I told you that the world never gives what it cannot take away. In exact opposition to God’s view of gift, the world only provides loans. Every loan comes with a repayment contract. In the end, something will be due. But it’s far worse than that. The world never gives a loan without a tax. And the taxman collects on regular intervals or whenever he feels like it or both. The world’s system is based on obligation, debt and reward. God’s is based on gift without payment. From a logical point of view, no one would choose debt and repayment over free gift. But we’re not very logical, are we? When the world presents its loan package, it all seems so wonderful. “Live life now”, “Grab life by the horns”, “Be all you can be”, “Go for it!” The loan agreements come is very pleasant packaging. And why not? It’s my life. I can do what I want with it.
That’s the problem. If I begin with the premise that life itself is mine, then I quickly decide what I have as a result of my life is mine. So, if I earned it, I have the right to determine what I do with it. Money is transformed into a declaration of independent value.
Jesus has an answer to this spiritual disease. It’s not a remedy that we easily embrace because most of the time we are fighting the “entitlement” wars. But Jesus’ answer is the clearest indication of my deepest spiritual values. It’s not what I say. It’s what I do. And Jesus says, “Freely give”. Oh, that’s painful. The world has me convinced that I need to count all the effort, the blood, sweat and tears that went into earning those symbols of economic exchange. And counting makes entitlement seem all the more real. It’s mine. Jesus attacks the spiritual dimension of money at its core. Wherever money becomes a statement of my worth, I move away from God’s value system. Wherever I am unable to freely give it in the name of the Giver, I have withdrawn from the Kingdom.
Money is a power in your mind. Free yourself and it will no longer hold you. God is quite willing for the taxman to go away. Are you?
