Geting What You Deserve

I am speaking in familiar human terms because of your natural limitations. For as you yielded your bodily members [and faculties] as servants to impurity and ever increasing lawlessness, so now yield your bodily members [and faculties] once for all as servants to righteousness (right being and doing) [which leads] to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what benefit (return) did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? [None] for the end of those things is death. But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life. For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:19-23 AMP). We’ve all heard one or all of the popular expressions that call for fairness in our wages. Modern proverbs like “a honest day's pay for a honest day's work,” or “I just want what's coming to me,” or “she works hard for her money,” or “you should earn your keep,” or “another day, another dollar.” It is natural to be preoccupied with making sure that we get what is due us, that we are not short-changed, that we are treated fairly. And, there is nothing wrong with that in moderation. There are many people whose earnings are not static. These commission-based employees really must check their vouchers closely each month to insure correctness. It is strange though that when it comes to dealing with God, we begin to change our tune. Perhaps we no longer desire to be treated fairly. No one, when we begin to realize that all of our actions, when set before God have earned us the just and fitting wage of death, wants to get that paycheck! And thankfully, instead of allowing us to earn the results of our efforts, God has substituted something else. It is the gift of grace. The nature of a gift is that it is undeserved and unearned. A special gift is costly, extravagant and unique. The gift that God gave us is all this and more. It is the gift of life through Jesus Christ. It is easy in life to lose our focus on what is most important. We begin to think more about what we are doing and what we are earning, instead of what has been given to us and what has been done for us. That kind of fear robs us of our freedom. During the building of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths. Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net be hung under the bridge to catch any that fell. Finally in spite of the enormous cost, the engineers opted for the net. After it was installed, progress was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell into the net but were saved. Ultimately, all the time lost to fear was regained by replacing fear with faith in the net. God has installed a net of grace under you. Be free and live knowing His life!