“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” NIV Ro6.23
I shared this verse with someone yesterday. Every time I do, I am staggered by it. How precious that God would make a gift of that which we could not possibly earn. The young lady was surprised to discover this. Like so many, she believed eternal life was something you had to earn by good works and stuff. I explained that I used to believe this as well.
The simple truth is that, all we have earned by our efforts to make it on our own, is death and hell. Were God to give me the wages of all that I have done, I would come up short. I have said it many times, when I am given the privilege of doing someone’s funeral and people usually do a double take, when I say it. “He was in many ways a good man, but his good wasn’t good enough.” I have shared these words about my own dear mother who passed from cancer several years ago. They seem hard words until one realizes that, if we stand on our own record and demand wages from God for our life, our paycheck will read death and hell. Once we realize that trusting our own efforts is the problem, we are able to look to Christ. One will not cry out to the lifeguard if they do not believe they are drowning, nor can we accept God’s gift with payment in our hand.
How insulting to offer God my pitiful list of good works in payment for heaven, when His Son paid so much for it with His death on the cross. The only proper response when someone offers you a gift is to receive it. We receive the gift by receiving Christ. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. 3/24/07 ts
Just me trying to be honest with God.
