Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Romans 4-7
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How good the Lord must feel to give someone eternal life. Someone may say, “The Lord is not about feeling.” Hebrews 4:15 says otherwise. He can be touched with feeling. Since there is rejoicing in Heaven over one sinner that repents (Luke 15:10) it makes sense that the Lord would rejoice when a person accepts Him as their Savior. After all, the salvation of an eternal soul is the greatest gift the world has ever known. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving, and that for eternity.
When my wife turned sixty, I wanted to do something special for her. So, for sixty days leading up to her birthday I gave her a present every day. On that present I would write or attach a tag that simply said 60/60. Most were not expensive gifts, they were little things, but about once a week there was a more significant gift. Every day these gifts were to be found in a different place. In the kitchen, her office, her car, laundry room, etc. Also, I would place them there at different times of the day. After a while she began looking for the gifts, anticipating them, and searching for them. She knew her husband would give her something that day.
But the one that received the greatest gift was the giver. I would rejoice, having good warm feelings of happiness seeing her so engaged in the gift receiving experience. When I recall this special season in our life I think of Psalm 68:19. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Every day the Lord gives His children gifts, He loads us up with them. Not for sixty days, but every day! As I write this I am on vacation. We are in a place we have never been before. Yesterday I saw an Eagle. The day before, deer walking past our rented house. Every day since arriving we have seen something new, a beautiful sunset, fish jumping in the lake, mountain views that are breathtaking. On and on the list goes. Yes, the Lord gives His people many gifts daily.
But the gift of eternal life. That is The Gift. In our verse today there are two things a person can receive. A wage, or a gift. Having earned wages and having received gifts, it must be said that the gifts are far more to be desired than wages. Wages we work for, gifts are given from a loving heart. But make no doubt, every gift must be purchased. Eternal life was purchased by Jesus Christ. He led a perfect life making Him the suitable sacrifice for sins. If during His life He had yielded himself to sin one time, He would have been guilty before God and unqualified as the sinless Lamb of God. As you read the Gospels did you notice His interactions with others. Try as they might to cause Him to sin by boasting, pride, anger, covetousness and all the rest, but not one time did He sin. For 33 years He walked that narrow road of perfectness. He had to, for that was part of the cost of purchasing The Gift of God.
That perfect life qualified Him to die on the cross as our sacrifice to God for our sin, purchasing eternal salvation.
Through His Gospel, His death, burial, and resurrection, He purchased eternal life for all who will receive it. Therein is the catch: All gifts must be received. On this earth, gifts are offered and received in sight. We see the gifts. Everlasting life though is not seen, not on this earth. It can only be received by faith. Just by reaching out in faith and accepting that gift is the way The Gift of God is received. We earned the wage of death, but are given the Gift of life, and that eternally.
Dr. William T. Howe
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