An Audit Is Approaching (And It’s Not The Tax Kind)

April is a lovely month where the world begins its transition from the grey cold of winter to the colorful warmth of spring. An altogether beautiful month except perhaps for the one day that most of us dread… tax day.

We need to make sure the information we put on the state and federal tax forms is all proper, valid, and correctly calculated. If we aren’t careful, the government may notice a problem and, in some cases, get to the root of the mistake by conducting something called an audit. That’s where the IRS will examine documents regarding all of your bank deposits and withdrawals, interest and dividend payments, deductions, withholding, investments, and income. Then, using mathematics (along with a boat load of tax laws and regulations), they’ll find the mistake. If you’re trying to cheat the government they have a solution for that: huge financial penalties, and if it’s really serious, time spent in jail.

That, in a nutshell, is why this time of year, is looked upon so unfavorably by so many folks.

Aside from tax day, there is another day coming for each and every one of us. That day is exactly one lifetime away, and it will also feature an audit of cosmic proportions. Not of how we handled our money, but of how we lived our lives: every word, every thought, each act, and the motive behind every act. It will be a day where God will audit our lives to see if we measure up to His exacting standards.

Sadly, all of humanity has fallen horribly short of the holiness of God. There’s an eternal penalty to be paid for this shortcoming, and try as we might, none of us has the ability to pay it. None of us!

At first glance the result of this audit doesn’t look very promising.

But the story doesn’t end here because God also has close at hand His only begotten Son, who has paid the penalty on our behalf, more than meeting the requirements of the law. Through Jesus, God forgave our debt and had it nailed to the cross, thereby taking it away (Colossians 2:13 & 14), placing our name in The Book of Life. All we need to do is surrender the process to Him and let Him stand in for us during the audit.

“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:5