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Articles
Taxes and Excuses
“And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, ‘Come; for all things are now ready.’ And they all with one consent began to make excuse” (Luke 14:17-18a).
April 15 is swiftly approaching. This is a day that is ingrained in our society as a day of reckoning. By midnight, April 15, we must file an income tax return or at least an extension. Something must be done by that time. We cannot simply let it go by without action.
Consider the following excuses that are often offered for slackness in attendance or other work for the Lord. They have been altered somewhat to reflect what they would sound like if offered when discussing our failure to file income taxes with the IRS.
1. I was just too tired to file. I’ll file next week.
2. I had company come in at the last minute. They hardly ever visit. I’ll file later.
3. April 15 was the only day I had off that week. I had to rest instead of filing.
4. My parents always filed when I was a child. Since I am now an adult, I feel it should be my personal choice and I shouldn’t be made to file.
5. Others who file are hypocrites. They often cheat. There is no use in me even trying to file. I don’t want to be associated with hypocrites.
6. I’m still young. I want to enjoy life. I’ll start filing as I get older. I have plenty of time.
7. 1 don’t like the people at the local IRS office. I don’t want to be associated with them.
8. I was sick and could not file. [Note There are times when we are genuinely sick and cannot attend, but many people let small ailments cause them to miss services and other work for the Lord when they would never let the same ailment cause them to miss a tax deadline or their job.]
9. My husband (or wife) never files. I feel like I need to support them from time to time.
10. I don’t have any good clothes to wear when preparing my taxes.
As you can plainly see, these excuses certainly would not work when explaining to the IRS why we did not file by midnight, April 15. We are expected to fulfill our responsibility. Likewise, we can offer many reasons for not attending services, or doing any of the Lord’s work, but are they real reasons or just simply excuses?
We would not dare consider offering the above listed excuses to the IRS – a man-made, government office that has only been in existence a few years. Many do not give a second thought to offering the same excuses to the eternal God, creator and sustainer of our very being.
Let’s work and pray to be truly converted. Let’s not offer excuses to the Lord.
