The time is winding down before the due date for taxes. The question is are you ready? I don’t always wait until the last-minute but I did this year. Life has been so busy I have been procrastinating. I think partly due to the fact that I am afraid of the outcome. It seems, as humans we tend to think if we keep putting it off maybe it will go away, but it never does.
One thing we can always know is that we will owe something. What we owe does vary from person to person. It depends on how much you make and what deductions you can take. So how much we pay is different all the time. There is never any consistency. There are so many variations. Everyone owes something different. But the reward is the same for everyone. We get to live free in this country. Some may say, “There is no freedom. We are in bondage and oppression to the laws of the land. Where there is no law there is no freedom. It may seem like freedom but it is not.
I was thinking about how this compares to God’s Kingdom. The amazing part is that it doesn’t matter how rich, poor, what color of skin you have, or where you were born our “taxes” are all the same. What we owe God is equal to everyone. What do we owe God? We owe Him the total surrender of our lives to Him. We may not live in His kingdom unless we give total surrender. In order to live in the USA we have to pay taxes if we don’t we will be punished. In order to live in God’s Kingdom we have to fully surrender our lives to Him or be punished.
The wages of sin is death but God has provided a way for us to avoid that final, eternal death and it is a free gift but it cost everything. It cost our full surrender. But we all get equal opportunity and equal right.
Some say, “There is no freedom in God. We are in bondage and oppressed by His law.” Every law that Christ has given is fulfilled in these two categories. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 God gave His only Son to die so that we do not have to pay the penalty for sin, eternal death. How can we not love a God like that?
How do you love your neighbor as yourself? Basically you treat them how you want to be treated. Can you imagine what this world would be like if we all did that. The freedom would be unbelievable. We would not have to worry about ourselves or our children or anyone. Because we would all be treated with the same respect and love. To me that is real freedom. And the amazing part, we have a choice. We can choose Him or not chose Him. We can choose bondage or freedom.
The selfishness of this world and a person only looking out for one self may seem like “freedom” but it is a miserable life. I don’t consider being controlled by anger, lust, lying, murderous thoughts, disrespect, etc. freedom. I consider that bondage and misery.
The freedom in God’s Kingdom all starts with falling in love with Him. Get to know Him. Look at what He has done for You. Then surrender your life to Him and I promise you will have the best freedom you can ever imagine. Trust Him with the outcome of every area of Your life. With Him in control, as long as we leave Him in charge, we can have rest and peace, even in the midst of the most terrible storm.
Dear Father,
Thank You for loving us. Forgive us for not accepting Your love and cleansing power to save. Thank You that as we surrender to You, You are the one that gives us the power to overcome ourselves. You have given us so much and I am so grateful.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Today is the day to give all to Him. He has paid the price. Let’s accept His free gift with a full surrender to Him today. This is a daily process. Let’s surrender each day.
Love you all.
As you have stayed surrendered to Christ, what have been the results? Share your testimony of God’s grace. I would love to hear it.