The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Working For Death; Receiving For Life"
"It says much about the deceiving influence of sin that humanity is so prone to working for sin's terrible wages, and so hesitant about receiving God's freely given favor, presence, involvement, and working through Christ."
Human beings either work for death. Or we receive for life.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
Sin offers satisfaction and pleasure, and often delivers on its claim. But only temporarily. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). God's grace in the Lord Jesus, conversely, offers a free gift of lasting, eternally abiding provision, and always delivers on its promise. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
It says much about the deceiving influence of sin that humanity is so prone to working for sin's terrible wages, and so hesitant about receiving God's freely given favor, presence, involvement, and working through Christ. The darkness dominates unbelievers. It remains an influence in the flesh of believers. Both populations must be illuminated by the Holy Spirit in order to live in the light rather than be overwhelmed by the darkness.
"Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8).
As we frequently suggest in these messages, some matters necessitate an ongoing discourse of prayerful and Biblical fellowship with our Heavenly Father. We need His illumination to ensure we walk in accordance with His gift of life in Christ, or to inform us if the darkness of sin's wages has deceived us. "Thou wilt show me the path of life… Cleanse thou me from secret faults" (Psalm 16:11; 19:12). The most godly among us require the Lord's confirmation and/or correction no less than the saint who struggles along the path of righteousness. Somehow, deadly darkness still appeals to the flesh of believers despite our realization that God's grace in the Lord Jesus provides our only hope for life and light. We must therefore consistently ask our Heavenly Father, "Am I seeing You and Your truth rightly, and as it applies to all things in my life?"
A willful insanity governs the heart of unbelievers, who choose the cruel taskmaster of sin and its deadly wages. Believers also remain "prone to wander," as the old hymn confesses. Thus, we do well - no, we act in terms of absolute and dire necessity - to seek God's ongoing illumination, confirmation, and correction. The darkness ever beckons our flesh with lies of good wages that may pay momentary pleasures, but which demand much of us in the long term. Thankfully, God's light abides as the greater influence, promising and faithfully providing His freely given favor of grace to all who trust and submit to the Lord Jesus. Yes, we either work for the deadly wages of sin, or we receive the gift of grace unto eternal life known in the present, and forevermore.
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
(John 8:12)
Weekly Memory Verse
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."
(II Corinthians 5:17)
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