Wages and Benefits

This morning I continue to chew on Paul's letter to the Romans.  There is so much to digest and understand in this letter, I could probably spend a month every year just wading through it again and again, gaining more and more insight.  Today, the verses I am thinking on are from Romans 6:22-23 NIV:

[22] "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves [bond-servants] of God, the benefit [fruit] you reap leads to holiness [sanctification and consecration], and the result is eternal life. [23] For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I added some alternative translations into the text, which for me is helpful in understanding Paul.  In other words, Paul is saying that when we willingly choose to bind ourselves to Jesus, to serve His will, we reap the fruit of that decision.  The fruit we experience here is related to becoming more like Him, set apart for God's purposes and uniting ourselves with Him.  The ultimate fruit is eternal life, which Jesus (as quoted by John) equates with knowing God relationally, both here on earth and in eternity (John 17:3).  What a great deal!

The second thing I noticed is found in the last line - the wages of sin and the gift of God.  Paul is comparing the two life-choices, serving sin and serving God.  In the first (sin) we receive payment (wages) for our choices and the ultimate effect is we forfeit our life (death).  That sounds to me like I am actually paying out of my life (the wages for sin) every time I sin and the result is not good, for at the end I receive death.  You could also say that everytime you sin, you receive payment in the form of a little bit of death being released into your life, with the final payment guaranteed.  On the other side, if I choose to serve God, He gives me the gift of Eternal life, and I reap the fruit of relationship with Him.  If I were to draw this up in an equation form it would look like this:

Our Choice            Payment Received          Final result

Serve sin                a little bit of death          death (not eternal life)

Serve God              relationship with Him    Eternal Life with Him

This seems so straight forward, yet many have become convinced that the opposite is true, that serving sin leads to excitement, adventure, fun, and fulfillment.  I have heard people describe final judgement and hell as being like one giant party of booze, drugs, music and sex, while heaven is completely boring and filled with an angry God.  The words of the Billy Joel song Only the Good Die Young describes this perspective pretty well - "I would rather laugh with the sinners than die with the saints."  This is such a twisted perspective it could be considered delusional, yet  it is quite common and widely accepted.  Let us pray for an end to this delusion in our lives and lives of our young people!

This morning I am encouraged to recognize and enjoy the fruit (benefits) of my decision to follow the Lord, choosing to serve Him with my life.  I am encouraged to think on the final benefit of this choice, eternal life with Him, who is the very definition of love!