It's TEA Time!

I walked into the office this morning and my secretary had a tea bag attached to the cabinet above her desk and that got me thinking.  I have no idea what many of you think about the tea party’s going on around America tonight, but I think they are a good thing personally.  It caused me to go back and look at the history of the Boston Tea Party…those guys were patriots and risked it all.  I thank GOd that we live in a nation in which we can have a  tea party in freedom, but sadly I don’t know if the tea party’s will make a difference.

Before I proceed let me get one thing out in the air…can a pastor speak on taxes…should a pastor speak about taxes…isn’t this political and on and on go the questions…so what should a pastor do?  Taxes are a reality in life and they impact our families, our communities, our commerce and much more; therefore, a pastor should bring proper perspective to these matters.  A pastor is called by God to bring His truths to all matters…even taxes.  It is sad that in our culture there are those who have tried to compartmentalize life so that common folk don’t view all of life connected to the Creator…but our forefathers knew better (read the Delcaration).  But life is life and God is a part of our lives…this is a fact; therefore taxes and all other issues are to be spoken on from a biblical persepctive unashamedly.  You cannot put God in a box, nor can you put your faith in a box.  Our faith should impact our view of taxes…to let others tell you otherwise is a lie, deceptive, and harmful to the good of society.

Enough said…so what about tea party’s?  First, I agree that the approach of the leadership in America today is to spend money we do not have and this should be protested becasue it is is not biblical.  I am not saying the church protest it, but we as citizens have the right to protest it.  Secondly, we must realize that Jesus said we should pay taxes “Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, but give to God what is God’s.”  We need to pay taxes for the good of society.   So from my biblical perspective we are not saying taxation is wrong, but that the way government is spending is wrong and we pay too much in taxes already.  SO I say let’s throw the tea bags in the harbor…there is nothing wrong with that.  We need to stand, we need to be involved, and we need to say enough is enougy.  Our Governemtn has got to get our priorities straight and as Christians we must speak Godly wisdom to this situation.  It is not biblical to spend money you don’t have, it is not right to reinforce bad commerce through bail-outs, and it is not biblical to not balance a budget…and there is more I could say, but will stop there.

God intended government to be for our good…the good of all of society (Romans 13).  However, when you have a President and Congress who are bailing company’s out for mismanagment and spending money we do not have and then not balancing a budget and on and on and on it goes…it is not for our good.  We may get through the economic crisis, but someday we will reap what we have sown.   Then you add on all the morality issues that our judical branch is creating…we have a mess…we are already reaping this and it will only get worse.  I think the tea party is long over due.  I am not sure we can trun back the core issue which is our values and morals.  I beleive that taxation has a value/moral base to it.  Sadly I think we are so far down stream that we missed the harbor opportunity.

Regardless, I also think the tea party is a good idea even though I believe it will have little effect for the politicians and the judges will continue to do what they want and the American people continue to loose ground morally and value wise each day.  I don’t know if the voice of the people who care really matters and I don’t think a lot of people really care or know what is going on.  It is a sad reality.  We are kind of like Jeremiah…he was the weeping prophet.  He came with a message that no matter what you do you are going down, but you still need to return to God anyway.  In other words God turned them over to the results of their own doing and allowed Jerusalem to fall.  He still loved them and wanted them to return to Him and His ways, but the consequences would not be altared.  That message didn’t sit well with the people of Jerusalem and I am sure it doesn’t bring us a lot of hope either.

Regardless I think it’s tea time and that we have the GOd-given right to take such action as Christians and as citizens for the glory of God and the good of society.  I can only hope and pray that it has some impact.