Getting Caught Up

Romans 13:7
Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (NLT)

It is not easy paying taxes. For some it is just a matter of accepting what comes out of the paycheck as fact and submitting an agreement to it in the form of an online 1040EZ after the W2 form comes in the mail. For many others, we can also do that if we want to pay the maximum.

If we own property, have a mortgage, have medical expenses, or a number of other valid deductions, we file a long form. To do that correctly, we have to keep good records of all our income and expenses.

In the move from RI to FL over the last year, I have been lax in keeping up with my bookkeeping on the computer for our personal expenses. I have a bookkeeping program I have used for years, but that is only as good as the data you type into it. I am busy getting caught up which means entering all the details from my checkbooks into the database and then balancing them with the bank records which are online.

Like our relationship with God, it works a lot better if we do a little each day. Had I entered the checks each day as I wrote them or the deposits as I received checks, the task would have been done. At any time I could have gotten needed answers at the click of key or point of a mouse.

This is kind of like our relationship with God. If we spend time with Him each day, even if just a for few minutes when we awake and/or when we go to bed at night, we get caught up. Sunday comes around and we head off to a church to praise and worship the one we have known all week long. Our details have been entered and now we can just be ushered into His presence.

Yet how often do we arrive at church and have to get caught up and balanced before we can get into the praise and worship that day?