For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
Most of us have had a job at one point or another and regardless of how much we enjoyed it (or did not) we were ultimately there for one main reason: to receive a paycheck. So we should all be able to wrap our mind around what a “wage” is; it is something that we have earned. We talked yesterday about how everyone has sinned; we further learn today that the wage for that sin is death (both the physical death of this body and the eternal continuous death of the soul in Hell). We find ourselves realizing an extremely bad and depressing truth: We have all sinned and by our sin we have earned death and Hell.
If the verse ended there, life would be truly sad; we would be left without hope. It does not feel good to find out we are sinners, it is truly grave to find out because we are sinners we deserve and are heading for eternal torment. However, there is a humongous, mountain moving word in the middle of the verse and it changes everything: But. I start to tear up every time I think of this particular “but”, because it bridges the way from death unto eternal life. Jesus took our sin on the cross so that we would not have to receive the wage that we deserve. He offers us the gift of eternal life in Heaven.
So what is a gift? A gift is something that is paid for by someone else; that is offered to you with no charge or hidden agendas; all you have to do is accept it.
