ON
THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LAW

Topics: Accountability; Complacency; Consequences; Debt; God; Guilt; Judgment; Punishment; Sin

References: Matthew 12:36; Romans 3:10; 13:8; Hebrews 9:27; James 2:10; 1 Peter 4:5; Revelation 20:11–15

After moving to a new state, I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a new driver’s license. The guy behind the desk said he couldn’t help me because my license was suspended.

“There must be some mistake,” I said. “I’ve never done anything to deserve that.”

The civil servant was very civil but said I had to clear up the problem with the State of Massachusetts before he could help me. I hadn’t lived in Massachusetts for ten years, so I couldn’t imagine what was wrong. Five long-distance phone calls later, I found out that when I moved from Massachusetts, I owed part of an excise tax of $2.

That tiny little bill began to accrue penalties and interest. I had to pay that bill plus the cost of a new Massachusetts driver’s license and registration for a car that had long ago become scrap metal before I could become legal in my new home state. The price tag was nearly $300.

The whole thing was embarrassing. It wasn’t so much the money that bothered me; it was knowing that I was on the wrong side of the law for all those years without even being aware of it.

How shocking it will be for those who stand before the God of the universe one day and realize, for the first time, that he holds them accountable for all the wrongs they do.

—John Beukema, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania