Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.
We all belong to God both in life and in death (see Romans 14:8). We are made in the image and likeness of God (see Genesis 1:26). We owe everything that we have and everything that we are to God. This is true before we realize it. Even before we know him he already loves us and already calls us to be his own. It begins before we opt-in. We are already called and chosen long before we respond.
I have called you by your name,
giving you a title, though you knew me not.
There is still some room for Caesar in this worldview. But his role is subservient to the one in whose image both us and Caesar and we ourselves are created. There is nothing excluding from the providence and the love of God. Because of this there is nothing which we can keep for ourselves. Everything is grace. And all must be offered back to God.
We cannot give God his due if we don't first remember who he is and what he has done for us. To undertake this "work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of Lord Jesus Christ" we need the Holy Spirit to bring power and much conviction about the gospel to our hearts. Word alone is not enough. It is not enough when it is time to act. When it is time to choose God rather than ourselves and to put him first before all our wants and desires only the Holy Spirit is enough. This is why society is so eager to separate Church and state. It isn't because the world disagrees with what is taught, although it claims to disagree. It is more a matter that what is taught is too difficult and so the world willfully rejects it. But it is only difficult when Caesar tries to do it all on his own. If we accept the invitation of God nothing is too difficult for us.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts.
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