“I’ve Got the Paperwork to Prove It”
It is a commercial for one of those companies that promises to negotiate with the IRS for people. The “target audience” seems to be individuals and families who owe a great amount of money in back taxes. As is often the case with services like this, the commercials feature testimonials from people who have successfully used the services of the company.
One of those testimonials features a “satisfied customer” who had his debt to the IRS reduced significantly. He looks at the camera and confidently says, “I’ve got the paperwork to prove it.”
Recently, Donna and I were in Cookeville, TN for a couple of reasons. We were there to celebrate Christmas with our daughter and her children. We also stayed for about a week after Christmas to help her and her children move into a house she recently purchased.
The negotiations, loan applications, inspections, and all of the other things that go along with purchasing a house took quite a while and were, at times, pretty nerve wracking. One day, though, she called Donna and me and was very excited to announce that she had the house.
How did she know that? What made her so confident and excited on that day? After all, she and the seller of the house had already agreed upon the terms of the sale, the inspections had been done, etc. What made that day so special to her?
The answer is, of course, that this was the day on which all of the paperwork was done. On that date, everything was written and signed. The house was officially hers. I guess that it would be more accurate to say that it will remain hers as long as she makes the payments to a bank, but all of that is “spelled out in writing,” as well.
Have you ever thought about all of that applies to God’s message to us? What would it be like if we had to assume that we know what God wants us to know? Would we ever be confident that we were correct in our assumptions? What if we relied on “word of mouth” to pass along His message? Have you ever played the game of “gossip” and witnessed how distorted a message can become when it is passed from person to person?
One of the many, many examples of the wisdom of God is that we have everything He desires for us to know in written form. We have His promises, His warnings, the expectations He has of us, examples of those who please Him and those who displease Him, and so many other things in writing.
The new year may not be quite so new by the time you read this, but, until our lives are over, it is never too late to read and apply “the divine paperwork.”
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn