Skip to main content

Not Getting Paid



  It’s estimated that in the US that $40 billion to $60 billion is lost each year in various forms of wage theft. Wage theft comes in various forms but it basically comes down someone not getting what is due them. Any of us that have worked for someone and then found out they are not going to pay, can tell you the frustration. Yet for all of us, the greatest wages we have withheld is really for our benefit.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

  This verse explains to us that what we are due, what we have earned by our actions is death. Our work has a consequence; a terrible one. Sin brings death and since all have sinned, all should get what is due to them. However, God’s gracious salvation isn’t earned it is given. We don’t demand it as a result of what we have done rather we accept it on the terms it has been given.

  It’s odd however how people seem to get this backward. We seem to think most folks have salvation due to them for a life lived. As long as we did the minimum of being a good person, a place in heaven is guaranteed for our efforts. Sin is viewed as something that can be excused with minimal effort.  Let it go and move on. Sin is gifted away with ease.

 That isn’t the case. Salvation came at a great price. Sin matters. If we are not in heaven it won’t be because it was kept unfairly from us. If we get what is due to us, it won’t be something we want.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Until Midnight

    In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back.       I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

The Gift You Give Yourself

    I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me.   There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15).  I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven.  So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives.  When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.

Why Does A Lion Tamer Use a Chair?

  Ok, I know you have seen the image. A lion tamer enters in the cage of the beast and forces it to obey his commands using a whip, a gun and a chair. Now you can see how the whip and gun could come in handy but you might be wondering why a chair would intimidate an animal as powerful as a lion? Clyde Beatty taming a lion with a chair   It's not that the lion is afraid of the chair -- it's that the lion is confused by the chair. Cats are single-minded, and the points of the chair's four legs bobbing around confuse the lion enough that it loses its train of thought. Casually put, the chair distracts the lion from wanting to claw the lion tamer's face off. The powerful creature could destroy the chair in moment’s notice but instead it is distracted into submission.  It’s not too much different than how Satan controls us today. By the power of God we could overcome anything that he would use to subdue us. We can overcome the evil one (1 st John 2:13-14). ...