This morning, I am reposting an interesting e-mail I received from Pastor Andy at Irving Bible Church, outside of Dallas, Texas. Please enjoy his thoughts on character & taxes:
Pastor Andy McQuitty
My Dear Friends,
I’ve been watching with fascination the machinations of several nominees to our new administration’s cabinet in taking a run at confirmation while gamely dragging the boat anchor of unpaid personal income taxes.
Yesterday Tom Daschle, former senate majority and minority leader, withdrew his nomination as health secretary after revelations of unpaid back taxes ($140,000). This is the same man who said in a 1998 debate: “Make no mistake. Tax cheaters cheat us all, and the [Internal Revenue Service] should enforce our laws to the letter.”
This move comes after the resignation of Nancy Killefer, President Obama’s choice to fill a new job of chief performance officer, also over tax arrears. And THAT move comes a few days after Tim Geithner, his Treasury secretary, was confirmed in his job (which ironically includes oversight of the IRS!) in spite of strong opposition after he disclosed that he had cleared more than $40,000 in back taxes.
It’s annoying to me that people who wanted to be part of an administration committed to raising my taxes are evidently none too keen on paying their own. But my subject in this little screed today is not abject hypocrisy, so I shall move on.
What fascinates me about these folks is that, having been informed that they were being considered for high office, they did actually pay their taxes and got their houses in order—and thought that this Johnny-come-lately action made their prior cheating OK. It’s like a bank robber who gets nabbed during the getaway, gives the money back to the bank president and asks, “Hey now that we’re all square, I’d like to put in my application for that open teller position…”
It would seem that the words “integrity” and “character” in our day have taken on a whole new low in definition. It’s no longer “do right ‘till the stars fall”, but do what you want ‘till you get caught, then do right if you have to (and then maybe you’ll still get what you want).” Perhaps this is just one of the thorns in the side of our fallen human race—the default mode of constructing a righteous façade to conceal the unseemly reality, and then in time, coming to believe the facade instead of the reality.
This weekend IBC is considering what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. Now there’s a subject that has to include the Christian’s proclivity to pretence. Yes, I believe that the same self-justifying rationale of “I’ll do the right thing if I have to” afflicts the Body of Christ as well as the Body Politic. So does the hypocrisy thing. I know it afflicts me. I admit it: your pastor is never all that he seems, even to himself! (What did you expect? I’ve been working on my facade for about 40 years now…)
Nevertheless, Jesus’ gracious invitation comes to me and to you and to all His followers to, well, follow Him. Do what He does, be what He is. It’s not so much about how we look, but who we’re becoming. The comforting thing is that though none of us has arrived, our Lord is always thrilled that we’ve embarked on the journey of matching an attractive and honorable “what we appear to be” with a sincere and authentic “what we truly are”.
Oh, that reminds me to recap our “Here We Stand” message last weekend in case you missed it. It’s about what IBC believes with regard to finding relationship in the Body of Christ. . . . At IBC we believe that all Christ followers are called to build missional community by cultivating relationships with other believers. In this community we learn to know and love God, each other, and the world more deeply and accomplish our task of building Christ’s Kingdom more effectively. Claiming our place in significant relationships in the Body of Christ and using our gifts to build others up in that Body of Christ is not an optional activity for those who happen to choose it, but a command (John 13.34) and corporate calling from our Lord that we are individually responsible to fulfill.
Blessings all, I’m going to leave now and start preparing my tax return early this year,
Pastor Andy
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Financial Freedom Through Faith 
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