One of the last things to be noted after figuring out a tax return is whether a payment is due or does one get a refund. Currently in Maryland if you use the envelope provided with the tax form package there is a place to mark whether if you are enclosing a payment or expect a refund.

It is not often a happy experience when someone owes tax and needs to checkmark the payment due box. There can also be penalties if one owes too much.

Anyhow, whether it is done by ground mail or e-file, tax returns are often initially placed in one of those two groups. Happy is the person who discovers they have a refund!

Of course I cannot help but to think of a parallel in the spirit realm. Due to the sin of Adam, we are by nature all sinners. Sin is missing any mark that our Creator has set for us. In some respects, all sin is the same in the eyes of God.

Since we are born as sinners, that means we all sin, which brings up some problems (Romans 6:23): "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

And this is even worse than taxes, for the Word of God is very clear that nothing we can do will ever gain enough credits to offset the payment due (Matthew 5:48): "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Well, unlike all human governments that can financially collapse, God has spiritual riches that we cannot even imagine. However, He has made it very plain as to how we can avoid being sorted into the "payment due bin" once we leave this life.

God Himself paid our outstanding debt by, in Christ (Messiah), taking on human flesh to become what the Holy Bible calls (1 Corinthians 15:45) the last Adam. Christ was that fresh start for mankind. We know from what the Holy Bible states that He lived a sinless life, then took our sin and sin nature as He went to the cross where He paid the penalty for our sin.

If we fully trust in Christ and surrender to Him, our penalty is paid, for in Christ (Ephesians 1:7), "...we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."

Not only is the penalty paid, but there is a very large refund for us as we stay in Christ. We will talk about that in the next Bible GemLight.