For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
—Romans 6:23
When we share our faith with others, we love telling the good-news part, don’t we? We love to talk about the love of God, the grace of God, the power of God to save and forgive. We love to talk about heaven, and we should! That’s the wonderful, good news of the gospel.
But there’s another side, the difficult side, and Jesus didn’t shy away from it. In fact, Jesus spoke about hell more than He spoke about heaven. He talked about judgment. The Bible tells us that apart from Christ, people are spiritually dead, and that “the wages of sin is death.” Most folks would rather we skip that part. But integrity demands that we tell the bad news along with the good, because it’s the bad news that makes the good news truly good.
Look at how this single verse holds both sides together. “The wages of sin is death.” A wage is something you earn, something you’re owed. Sin pays out, and its paycheck is death, not just physical death, but eternal separation from God. That is what every one of us has earned.
But then comes the most beautiful contrast in Scripture: “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Set the two words side by side and let them sink in. Wages versus gift. One you earn; the other you could never earn. Sin pays you what you’re owed. God gives you what you could never deserve.
And notice, it’s a gift. You cannot work for a gift; you can only receive it. When God came in Christ, it wasn’t a mistake or a mix-up. It was a gift with your name on it.
Why was such a costly gift necessary? Because God doesn’t look at sin through human eyes. We grade ourselves like a baseball player who makes the Hall of Fame hitting three out of ten. “I’m doing fine — my average is pretty good with God.” But any sin is no small thing to a holy God. It violates His holiness, it demands a righteous judgment, and it requires a payment.
Jesus went to the cross to die so that your debt could be paid in full. Moreover, his sacrifice included a gift with your name on it, eternal life. Have you received it?
SIN PAYS WAGES; GOD GIVES A GIFT. THE FREE GIFT WITH YOUR NAME ON IT IS ETERNAL LIFE, RECEIVE IT.
