Possibly even more than Romans 3:23, the passage we last dealt with in this blog, Romans 6:23 sounds like anything but good news. That is partly because we have been bombarded all of our lives with the nonsense of self-esteem. You are important! You are wonderful! You are flawless! You are a winner! You can be anything you want to be!
But as helpful as that thinking may be, it strikes many of us as unreal, a little like the Easter Bunny. We were on the ball team where everyone got a meaningless trophy when we didn't win a game. Or we told a friend she had a beautiful hat, when we were just too shocked to speak the truth.
But in His love God speaks reality to our hearts. Romans 6:23 reads,
“For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Let me point out two crucial things this verse teaches.
1. This verse brings us to the Desperate Need of the Gospel.
The world promises wages in its counterfeit currency. The true wages of living our lives as if we didn’t need God are lostness and death without Him.
So you have cancer. You go to two doctors. One of them smiles, gives you pain pills and a fishing poll. The other doctor says we are going to operate on you to remove the tumor from your body. I have been there. The hard words are the good news?
2. This verse also teaches the Wonderful Gift of the Gospel.
The gospel is not something you earn. It is the gift of God's love.
Many years ago I served in a church that was unhappy with me. God gave my wife and I great comfort in Revelation 3:9. He assured us that the people would come to know that He loved us. At first I wanted to say, "No God. I want them to know that I was right." But after His word began to wash over us, we decided we needed His love in our lives more than we needed to be successful or impressive.
Every wonderful thing in life comes from His love and the gift of the gospel. It is eteranlly good news!
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