Lord's Day Devotion - Sin's Wages

 

"The wages of sin is death

               BUT

 the gift of God is eternatl life

through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23).

The wages of sin are so different from the gift of God.  The former is death, the latter, eternal life.  The gift is gotten through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When God created the heavens and the earth and all that in them are - including mankind - He gave 'us' life.  That is, He breathed into the first man, Adam's nostrils and he became a living being.  It is God who gives us life.

But the creation God declared as "very good" was hit by a catclysmic bombshell.

                       SIN

                            came.

Read Genesis 2:1-7 and 3:1-6.  After that then read Romans 6:23.

Adam and Eve disobeyed the one rule they had.  Satan came in to that Garden of Eden - a perfect sanctuary where Adam and Even had been communing with God and living peacefully among the foliage and fauna.  Satan told his deceitful and craftly lies and Eve was deceived.  She disobeyed and got Adam to join the action.

What a tragedy!

God had created Adam and Even and given them life.  He had the right to ask them to love Him, worship Him and obey Him.

He did not force it on them though.  They and we are not robots.  The situation with Adam and Eve is much the same for us today.  God wants us to listen to Him because we want to, not because He's forced us to.

We love Him because He first loved us (see 1 John 4:19).  If we love Him, we can show it by obeying Him.  Because He loves us we can depend on Him.  He'll never fail us (see Zephaniah 3:5).

The evil and wily Satan continues to try to snatch the limelight and have people worship and obey him instead of God.  That's why he intentionally made Eve doubt God's word and goodness to them.

The choice was left up to Adam and Eve, and the same choice is given to us today.  Who is telling the truth?  God? or Satan?   

God told Adam and Eve they would die if they disobeyed and ate the fruit.   Satan implied that they wouldn't and furthermore if they ate, they would be wise like God.

Whom would you choose to listen to?

Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan.  That was a huge mistake.  What's now known as The Fall, happened and it has affected all of human kind since then until now.  Our sinful nature always sins.

Did Adam and Eve die?  Well, not instantly but their sin did cause them to grow old and die.  We don't see a 5000 year old man or woman walking around with their animal skin clothing.

They did not become wise like God either.  In fact, it was very foolish of them to disobey God and listen to Satan.  We need to watch out for this nowadays too.

So with all this sin, death, gloom and doom, are we left hanging in that state?  NO!  God sent Jesus to take the wages of sin upon Himself on our behalf.  It's God's gift to us because He loves us.

Sin brought death but God gives eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  He took our punishment so we don't have to bear it.

Our sin separated us from God but Jesus bridged that divide, bringing us forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  This brings us back into relationship and communion with God.

Believe in Jesus and accept Him as Savior.  Worship Him.  Obey Him and give Him our thanks and praise.

One of the ways of doing so is through remembering Him in His death and resurrection.  This Lord's Day, thank Him again as you partake of the broken bread and drink of the cup of wine, together with those who have accepted God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Father God, human beings sure messed up Your creation and brought catastrophe upon themselves.  But, You, Oh Father, are the God of mercy and love.  You loved us so much You didn't want us to take the punishment for our sin.  Instead Your son Jesus bore all our sin and sorrow upon Himself.  Thank You for this gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  In Him we have redemption and have been brought back to You.  Thank You from the bottom of our hearts.  In Jesus' name we give You our thanks and praise.  Amen.

                                                      ~ERC  February 2024~

 Based on Romans 6:23, Genesis 2:1-7 and 3:1-6.

Sing, Divine Exchange, along with Abundant Life Ministries.