This is Income Tax Day.

Ask any adult about April 15, and he or she will frown and mumble about income tax. This is the payment deadline. Most people have money taken out of their checks every payday, so they expect to receive refunds. But all citizens, even those who don’t make enough to pay any taxes, are required to fill out the forms, and that can be a pain.

Every level of government has taxes. In addition to income taxes, we pay taxes on property, sales, entertainment, parking, gas, travel, and on and on. No wonder people can feel taxed to death. But how else would the government get money to operate? Our taxes pay for salaries of teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and government workers, the construction and maintenance of roads and highways, schools, libraries, and other government buildings, and much more.

The people of Jesus’ day sure didn’t like paying taxes, especially since they lived under the Romans, a foreign power. And the powerful Roman government could be very cruel. So one day some people who were trying to trick Jesus into saying something that would make the crowds angry with him asked if it was right to pay taxes. Jesus simply answered, “Give to Caesar what belongs to him.” But then he added, “Everything that belongs to God must be given to him.”

Jesus was saying that his followers should honor the government and be good citizens whenever possible. But he was also pointing out that God is a higher authority, over all rulers and governments. In fact, everything belongs to God (not to us or anyone else), including our very lives, so we must give ultimate honor and devotion to him.

What can you do to give back to God what belongs to him?

“Well then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God” (Luke 20:25).

To Do

Ask a parent to explain how taxes work and what it means to be a good citizen.

Also on this day . . .

1452—Leonardo da Vinci was born.

1865—Abraham Lincoln died after being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

1912—The ocean liner Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.