Church Offerings & Tax Rebates

 Do you keep cancelled checks from your church offering as receipts for end of year tax credits? Does your church offer receipts for cash or other contributions members make to the church? Many church members keep very detailed records of their contributions for income tax credit purposes. Some are very open about it. Others are quiet on the subject. Whether you do or not isn't really any of my business is it? Nope, not really. However, I did hear a conversation the other day that reminded me that I wanted to make a short post about what I think about it. That and the fact that I did stay at a Holiday Inn once is reason enough to go on. 

 Why do you need to keep a receipt for this? I'm personally unable to come to the conclusion that somehow I'm qualified for or owed a rebate for a contribution I make as a free will offering to the church. Lets see, before the foundation of the world God predestined me, an undeserving sinner, to a perfect eternal inheritance in heaven in spite of my unworthiness. And it was out of a love so magnificent that he was willing to see the blood of his only Son poured out on the cross so that I might have it. So now that I know I am a recipient of God's great plan I can justify figuring a way to get credit for it. Sorry, I don't get it. I don't have a right to anything from God. I count it a privilege by way of his grace that I'm even considered in his eternal plan for our salvation. And I am so very thankful for that. 

 

 Peter wrote about our salvation: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:3-12 ESV) 

 God doesn't owe me anything after what He's already done. I owe him. More than I can ever pay. In my mind I seem to get further behind in my payments every day and yet every day he still gives me another chance to start over, put yesterday behind and try to do better. 

  Micah said of God: Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. (Micah 7:18 ESV) 

  I couldn't look the mail carrier in the face if I knew he was handing me a letter from the IRS containing a tax rebate that came as a result of credits I had claimed from something that is clearly (at least to me) just part of our allegiance to God. Seems to me that would be like a preacher called on to offer a prayer before a meal with friends at Cracker Barrel. Since he's a preacher, he was 'working' while he offered the prayer so now he gets to write the meal off as a business expense. Each of us must decide things like this based on our individual understanding and conviction. For some, this subject may not have priority on the list of things to be concerned about. On my list it's up near the top. I'm really trying to see a bigger picture about how I understand God. And about how I imagine he sees me based on how I consider things and how consistant I am in the way I consider those things. I hope thinking about things like this will help me not miss the opportunity of being included in a bigger picture I didn't understand simply because I spent my time thinking about ways I could get a credit for the artwork.