Unlimited: The Gift of God
Nov 7, 2022 716
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
This is one of the keystone Bible verses about the Gospel. What Paul says here is very simple, yet extremely powerful. Sin gives you wages, but God gives you a gift. Sin’s wages are terrible, but God gives you eternal life. Wages are what you work for, but a gift is what you don’t deserve.
It is true that some people have exceptionally difficult lives. Perhaps that is also your situation. We can look at their lives, or our own, and think, “That is so unfair!” From the perspective of our natural condition in sin, it is all entirely fair, for we deserve nothing. In fact, we deserve death. It is God alone who gives us life and all that is good.
The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
We should always avoid a sense of entitlement when it comes to God’s blessings, especially with regard to eternal life. It is entirely a gift. It originates not in our merits, but in God’s nature of love, which results in giving. Sin results in taking, but love results in giving. That’s why love is the motivating force of the Gospel, and why giving is the fundamental principle by which we are saved:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16.)
Spiritual Application
If that is how God treats us, then how do we treat others? Is the way we treat others according to their “wages” (what they deserve) or according to grace (a gift)?
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