free

i apologize for my lack to be truly consistent with my blogging each week. i could probably come up with a couple of lame excuses all involving the words "busy," "school," and "stuff." so ill just skip that step, and try to be consistent in the future, because consistency is something that our generation struggles with, and can be connected to our lack of consistency in our own relationships with God and others. so lets stop that. haha.

our verses for the week are:

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

and

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

so romans 6:23. death.
awesome, thats really an upper for the week.
but when looked at more closely we start to think about really what we deserve for our sins. and notice paul doesnt name certain sins like murder or adultery or those that we consider really really bad sins, he just says
S I N. singular.
huh. so maybe here paul is trying to get at something. that we for some reason create a ranking system ordering sin from worst to oh-not-so-bad. and yet all sin is equal in God's eyes. so when we tell a little white lie to our parents. ya thats the same as murdering someone, in God's eyes. great. James 2:10: "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." so when we sin and judge another person, we have in theory broken all of God's commandments? ya. now while many cynics would decide it doesnt matter then, because regardless we are all doomed.

fortunately the verse has to parts.
1. for the wages of sin is death
and
2. but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

well that second part sounds a whole lot more comforting. and it should. in fact it kinda blows my mind. to think the we have such a Holy Almighty God that while each and everyone of us are infected by the sin, that at our own hand destroys our lives, He saves.
and regardless of what we have done, our Father sent his only Son to rid the world of the stain that penetrates our souls. and that this Sacrificial Lamb has paid the price for us. because as the verse states we are given this free gift.