“23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (New Revised Standard)”
or
“Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. (The Message)”
This is one of those verses we have all been encouraged to memorize and keep tucked in our hearts. Paul is encouraging us that when we believe in Christ and are baptized we are no longer under the power of sin. Through baptism we have identified with Christ and accepted by faith his lordship in our life. We are not controlled by sin because we have the Holy Spirit in us, guiding us and teaching us. We have Jesus at the right hand of God representing us. We have God on our side, walking with us. I like the way the Message puts it. Our pension is not death but eternal life. We will make mistakes on our journey but that does not change the cash value of our pension, our policy. That does not change the death benefits. Using this analogy, the wonder of it is that it is a free gift offered to all. No monthly premiums. No cash or good deeds up front. The thief on the cross was offered the policy not fully understanding much of anything, only pleading to be remembered. Abraham did not know about Jesus but he believed God would keep his promises and acted on that. Love from God to us and love from us to God drives our lives, not law and not fear.
Like the journey through the wilderness by the children of Israel when they traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land and were transformed from slaves to a People of God, Paul is suggesting that as we live into our faith we are being transformed from slaves to sin, into free blessed children of God, free to obey out of love.
Let’s tie this thinking down a bit. We have five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Pick one sense that you would like God to transform and talk to him about it in prayer. Blessings on your journey.
On the Way to Wonder 