Lunch and Life

by Danica


 
The human body needs to consume food on a regular basis in order to sustain itself. Likewise, the spirit of a human being needs to consume spiritual food. And just as a person (for the most part) chooses what food they put in their mouth, we also have a choice as to what we decide to feed our spirit with.

So today for lunch, I decided to hang out with God. It’s something I don’t do as often as I should, but when I do, he spoils me with amazing revelations of his Word, and it makes me wonder why I lose motivation to read my Bible regularly.

For lunch, I read Romans 4-6. I was reading through the three chapters trying to make sense of what Paul was telling the Roman church. Everything was sinking in, but I didn’t feel as if I was coming away from it with mind-blowing revelations.

Each of the five sections that the three chapters were split into repetitively talked about faith and righteousness and life and death, and I admit, I started to get a little bored half way through chapter 5. So bored that I decided I was gonna stop taking notes and just read. Then I’d come to another section that seemed to tackle the topics from a different angle, and I’d get something new out of it, but then I’d get bored again ’cause it sounded so monotonous!

That was until I read the last verse in chapter 6, which is the verse that features in the above video:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(Romans 6:23)

Suddenly, the first part of lunch made sense!

“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

(Romans 4:4-5)

When someone receives a wage, it’s what they deserve for something they have done during a set period of time. “Wage” or “wages” is a term mostly used to describe the pay an employee receives based on an hourly rate. It is income that rightfully belongs to them as a result of the work they have done.

A gift is given not because the receiver necessarily deserves it, but because the giver wishes to show favour or to honour an occasion. It is a bonus “given voluntarily without payment in return”. (I especially like this ‘commentary’ under the financial definition for ‘gift’ – If you receive a gift, you aren’t required to report it as income.)

As sinners, we deserve death. It is our wage for sinning and an obligation as a result of the law (Romans 4:15 – “…law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”). When a man works, his wages are what he deserves for working and they are not a gift. But God’s gift to us is eternal life through Christ Jesus.

Not one of us deserve it because rightfully we deserve death as a result of sinning (Romans 3:23 …For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ; Romans 5:12 …Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…). But our faith in God means that under His grace, we can receive the gift of life.

“If the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”

(Romans 5:15)

This gift isn’t just for one person; it is for anyone who chooses to accept it.

– “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 

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