The wages were taken for me.

I've half a mind to not blog tonight, just because I have some really good reasons not to (but, obviously, I will hahaha). I went to work this morning at 5:30 AM. I got off at 12:45, went home to take a shower, and headed out to Saline to go about some very sad family business. We were packing up a house, every last belonging from the place that they had moved into only months before. As their possessions disappeared from the floors and walls, so too did the last shred of hope for a certain future. I literally felt dreams shatter and break as I picked up objects, from the sentimental to the ordinary. I was flooded with emotion. It was a very sobering and draining time. By the time we were done at around 8 PM, I was absolutely exhausted, and somewhat on edge. The uncertainty of tomorrow, let alone next year, can be so daunting at times. But I know God has us in his hands. Safe in his hands. Actually, the day allowed me a chance to reflect on some ideas that have been brought to me recently. I will briefly share some of them.

We all know that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23...) but I have been discovering more about what this means, and how it can affect even Christians who are unrepentant or have not accepted the grace extended to them. I have seen, in very practical terms, how the area in which you sin is the very area in which you die. For example, if you abuse your health in a specific way, your health will fail you in that specific way. Likewise, if you betray someone in a relationship, the relationship will suffer and perhaps die. The death often occurs where the sin occured, and to the degree that the sin was committed. This is the way of the world. The more you sow, the more you reap. The more you work at something, the greater the wages that you earn. Sin leads to death, both in the spirit and the physical realms.

BUT... the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. How glorious! Eternal life that starts today! As one who has accepted the gift, I have the privilege of living life IN Jesus Christ. Effective immediately. All of the life that he has, as one who has already died and now lives in his immortal body, is mine to live. He has grafted me into his miraculous body, a precious adoption that I could never earn. But will always accept. Always. I am fully alive to Him, just as He is fully alive to me. We are dead to the world, and it is dead to us. There is no power of sin or death over us! In snatching us from the fire, he has redeemed us and claimed that our sin is not counted against us. Indeed, the instant that we repent and accept his forgiveness is the instant Jesus wipes our sin from his record. No longer will the punishment fit the crime. What Jesus accomplished on the cross was no small task; there is power to live and heal and be delivered. There is power to be whole and holy. To become "the righteousness of God." This, friends, is something worth sharing....

2 Corinthians 5:21

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."