Taxing Thoughts

A few years ago, I came across a simplified tax form that was similar to the following:

1. What did you make this year ____________________________
2. Enter amount on line 1. ____________________________
3. Enter amount on line 2, this is the tax you owe _________________

This is how many of us feel each year. But I have said what I will about taxes and you can guess my feelings toward the current tax code. What I really want us to think about today is what we give to God. I am teaching a class concerning how church leadership uses what we contribute in cash or check, yet while I study this topic I am reminded that we are to give so much more to God that what is in our wallets. I categorize what we owe God into three areas:

1) Finances. This is the easiest and most talked about area of our giving. We cannot ignore the simple fact that God's business on earth requires money. It takes a fiscal budget to succeed in evangelism, to be benevolent, and to edify the church.

2) Abilities. We are to use our gifts to minister to each other and to God (1 Pet 4:10). How are we using our talents for God/

3) Time. We are blessed each day with a merciful new morning (Lam 3:22-23). I need to use the opportunities that I have to serve God and to lead others toward Him through Christ (Col 4:5; Eph 5;15-17).

Take the first letter of each of these points (Finances, Ability, Time) and you have FAT. I don't know about you, but I am willing to lose some FAT for the Lord.

Scott