As is the case for many Americans, each year in January, two important documents come my way. The first is the standard W-2 form I receive from my place of employment. As a Minister of the Gospel, I receive this from the office of the local church where I serve as Pastor. This is office also generates a second important form as well – the record of contributions my wife and I have made over the previous year.
The obvious significance of these documents lies in their relationship to our income tax return, which, along with other citizens, we must file before the April 15th deadline. As I gather my records, one is used for income purposes; and the other is used for expense purposes.
As I have been busy assembling these and other documents together in order to have my tax return prepared, I have been reminded that we all leave behind us a record of our various activities in this world. My wife and I each spent the previous calendar year engaged in useful and rewarding employment. We now have a record of that.
We also spent the previous year contributing to organizations whose purposes and activities are those in which we greatly believe. And while we did not necessarily do it for this reason, now we have a record of our contributions to those entities as well.
If you think about it, what is true of the previous year is actually true of our whole lives here in this world. From the time I entered preschool, I myself have left a trail of records documenting most all of my various activities in life. The trail has followed me though school and on into my working life. In many respects, it has also followed me in most every other area of my life as well.
Similarly, I have also left a trail of contributions behind me. At times, these contributions have been financial. At other times, they have more involved the contribution of time or of talent or of effort. But either way, my life, like every other person’s, has left in its wake a clear testimony to what my priorities have been.
At the conclusion of each year, as I prepare for my tax return, I can sit down and see with my own eyes how and what I have been employed with over the previous twelve months. I can see what I have labored away at for all that time. I can also look back and see what I chose to do with a significant portion of the resources I was granted in exchange over that period of time.
I am reminded in all of this that there will come a day when this life itself is over; and I will have occasion to reflect on how I spent my time and what all I accomplished in this world. Equally as important, I will have opportunity to be reminded of how I used the resources I with which I was entrusted during my time on earth.
These days, I go through this process with an accountant. In that day, I will go through the process with my Creator! As a follower of Jesus Christ, I trust that when I do, I will hear those words He once spoke in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew (chapter 25, verse 23): “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful… Enter now into the joy of your lord.”
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/matthew/25-23.htm.
The obvious significance of these documents lies in their relationship to our income tax return, which, along with other citizens, we must file before the April 15th deadline. As I gather my records, one is used for income purposes; and the other is used for expense purposes.
As I have been busy assembling these and other documents together in order to have my tax return prepared, I have been reminded that we all leave behind us a record of our various activities in this world. My wife and I each spent the previous calendar year engaged in useful and rewarding employment. We now have a record of that.
We also spent the previous year contributing to organizations whose purposes and activities are those in which we greatly believe. And while we did not necessarily do it for this reason, now we have a record of our contributions to those entities as well.
If you think about it, what is true of the previous year is actually true of our whole lives here in this world. From the time I entered preschool, I myself have left a trail of records documenting most all of my various activities in life. The trail has followed me though school and on into my working life. In many respects, it has also followed me in most every other area of my life as well.
Similarly, I have also left a trail of contributions behind me. At times, these contributions have been financial. At other times, they have more involved the contribution of time or of talent or of effort. But either way, my life, like every other person’s, has left in its wake a clear testimony to what my priorities have been.
At the conclusion of each year, as I prepare for my tax return, I can sit down and see with my own eyes how and what I have been employed with over the previous twelve months. I can see what I have labored away at for all that time. I can also look back and see what I chose to do with a significant portion of the resources I was granted in exchange over that period of time.
I am reminded in all of this that there will come a day when this life itself is over; and I will have occasion to reflect on how I spent my time and what all I accomplished in this world. Equally as important, I will have opportunity to be reminded of how I used the resources I with which I was entrusted during my time on earth.
These days, I go through this process with an accountant. In that day, I will go through the process with my Creator! As a follower of Jesus Christ, I trust that when I do, I will hear those words He once spoke in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew (chapter 25, verse 23): “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful… Enter now into the joy of your lord.”
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/matthew/25-23.htm.