Today is known as Tax Day in the United States. It’s the day our income taxes are due.

But there’s another day associated with taxes. Have you heard of Tax Freedom Day? Tax Freedom Day marks the date that our nation as a whole has earned enough income to pay for the total income taxes owed on April 15.

In 2012, Tax Freedom Day fell on April 13. This year, Tax Freedom Day is April 18, five days later than last year.

But when it comes to a relationship with God, we’ll never be able to earn enough to pay our sin-debt to Him. We could spend our entire lives doing good things such as volunteering for a food bank or spending time in religious activities such as going to church. But all the good deeds in the world cannot cancel out our sin nature. And all the good deeds in the world cannot clean up our act so that we can be accepted by our holy God.

However, God doesn’t expect us to earn our way out of sin. He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for sin AND to break the power of sin in our lives. His salvation is a gift. The very nature of a gift is that it’s free for the taking. If we earned it, it wouldn’t be a gift.

So celebrate Tax Freedom Day as the day you’ve finally earned enough to pay for your taxes. And don’t forget to celebrate what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross to pay for our sin – a gift we can never earn.