Give to God What is God's

Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?"
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?"
"Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

I remember whenever this verse was taught. It always went like this...Obey your government and pay your taxes and don't forget to give your 10% to the church. I was talking to my husband about this verse. It more came about in such a different way. We were talking about patriotism and this verse came to both of us. It didn't really fit what we were talking about, but I think God had something to say to both of us through this verse.

I don't think Jesus was really worried about us giving our 10% to the church...and I don't think he was telling us to make sure we obey the government and pay the taxes. We think it was more about the insignificance of paying taxes. Go ahead and give this coin back to Caesar. It has his image on it and he made it. So go ahead and give it back. But when we looked this last night we thought...what is God's. Really everything is God's he made it all. But I think we should go further on this...what has His image on it?

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.


Give to Caesar his coin. God isn't interested in your money...He doesn't need your money. What God wants is you. He is interested in you! He is not interested in just having part of you He wants ALL of you. So remember to jump in with both feet with full abandonment and give Him your whole self.