A doctor talked to my dad for an hour. He didn’t examine him. He didn’t take his blood pressure. Just talked. When my dad got to the payment point, he was informed that the bill came to more than R5 000. This made my dad very angry.

The woman asked my father to bring cash for his next session. Then he had to pay more than R4 000 for the second session.

Later he phoned and asked them to please send him an invoice so that he could submit the claim to the medical aid. They said they couldn’t trace such a transaction on their system.

My dad said that he had the receipt right in front of him. The woman then asked what colour the receipt was. When my dad said what the colour was, she simply responded: “Oh yes”, and sent him the invoice.

It is not at all strange to me that my father didn’t visit this doctor again. You see, your actions tell stories about your character. The story of the cash payments to the doctor is not a pretty one.

I wonder where on the scale this doctor’s integrity rests. I wonder which way the doctor will choose when he has to decide between a little more money or what is best for the patient. Well, with his integrity shrouded in question marks, I really can’t answer for sure.

If everyone tries to get one over the government and does everything in cash, how will our streets be tarred? If everyone decides not to pay taxes, where will we get clean water to drink?

Now this is a risky argument, because there are many towns with more holes in the tar than room to drive. Many towns do not have clean water and where sewage pollutes the rivers.

Then it’s a hard pill to swallow when PAYE is deducted from your salary. Then you have difficulty pressing the pay button to hand over your hard-earned money to SARS. Then one has difficulty reading the verse: ¹³Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; ¹⁴they are God’s emissaries for keeping order.

Jesus Himself said we must pay Caesar, even though the government of the day wasn’t kind to Him.

The world is watching us. They want to know if we agree with the rest who are turning against the government. They want to see what the children of God are doing. Do we also oppose authority, but stick to not doing what the world says we should?

No, I don’t think we are expected to accept a government authority’s injustice and wrong actions just like that. We have a responsibility to stand up for justice and fairness.

Let us do our part as good citizens of the country. Let us be honest in all respects and do what is right, even if we feel there are many reasons to oppose authority.

Scripture
1 Peter 2:13-17

Reflection
Where might you be doing things in the dark?
How can you get rid of it?
Where should you stand up against injustice?

Prayer
Father, it honestly is not always easy to obey the laws of our country. Give me the wisdom to do the right thing. I ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.