Growing in Jesus - lesson 9 "Our Wages"

Growing in Jesus                         - lesson 9

Our Wages

     Sinning  earns a wage just like working for someone earns a wage. Wages add up and can be measured over time and so can the wages of sin.

     I’ve been thinking about this because it’s not like instant death for every bad thing we do. It is simply a guarantee that over time these will be the wages we have earned for our actions.

  We often think about how nothing good we can do will be what gets us into heaven. We think about how salvation is an amazing gift from God to us,  however what we choose to do on earth  does earn a wage. If we labor for sin the wages are death. Every sin has so many consequences. Think about how burned out a person becomes when their job is their whole focus on life. Or their drugs and alcohol are their passion. Or their quest for another lover tonight. The wages of sin are earned and paid out. If we spend our time gossiping we will reap wages for it. If we devote ourselves to the perfect house or the perfect vacation we will have payment for it. This is why we want to seek the Lord earnestly so that the wages we earn on a daily basis will be wages that lead to life and not death or a dead end.

     Every action bears fruit and earns a wage. This is why who we are in secret really matters. Every part of what we do earns a wage. The wages of sin will be death and the wages of obedience will be life not only for ourselves but for everyone around us. Just like if I buy food for my family with my wages than we all enjoy what my wages have paid for. If we serve the Lord both in secret and openly we will also be providing food that everyone around us will share in.

     What we do is where our wage comes from. If we seek out and pursue sin we will earn a steady build-up of death that will eat our lives away until eventually we die physically as well. We will earn bitterness, resentment, crude humor. We will earn anger, hate, swearing. We will earn emptiness, and depression. We will earn despair and hopelessness. We will earn life without meaning or purpose. We will earn children who leave us and go off and wreck their lives and destroy more lives around them. The wages of sin earn death.

     The wages of obedience to the Lord bring life. They lead to joy and peace and contentment. They lead to usefulness, unselfishness, diligence, patience, and love. They lead to a blessing for everyone around us. What we do in secret and in public is where our wages come from. 

     Let us seek the Lord earnestly so that everything we do will bear good fruit and reap wages unto life!


God bless!  
-Seth