For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
I don’t know if all ten-year-old boys are this dramatic, but last year my son put a sign on a small belonging of his. The sign said:
If you move this, you will die!
In case that wasn’t deterrent enough, he drew a big frowny face next to the words.
I was very tempted to move the item. I thought about what fun it would be to tell my little drama king that I had moved it and yet had not died.
It reminded me of how God told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die. They did eat, and yet they didn’t drop dead, so was God mistaken? Well, no. We understand that spiritually they did die in that very moment, and that furthermore their bodies at that point became subject to physical decline and death in the future.
How much time do you think elapsed between the eating of the forbidden fruit and the moment when Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden and hid themselves? It was long enough to sew some fig leaves together to cover their newly understood nakedness. I wonder if in that span of time they thought that they had gotten away with something. God had said they would die, and Satan had said they would not. I wonder if they thought God had been wrong and the devil had been right. (See Genesis 3:1-8).
Sin doesn’t always catch up with us right away. When consequences aren’t immediate, we may start to question whether God really knew what He was talking about. In fact sometimes our sin may seem to improve our lives in some way. So maybe God was wrong about some of His rules. We know that supposedly His commands are for our good, but sometimes it feels like sin is working out quite well for us.
When God said that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), maybe He was just being a drama king.
But notice that James 1:14-16 describes a process that leads to death.
Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Sometimes Satan does keep us very comfortable in our sin.
But usually if you watch for long enough, you’ll see full-grown sin paying out the wages of heartache, addiction, isolation, hatred, and slavery.
Besides, God doesn’t forget. Sin is still on the record unless it has been wiped out by the blood of Christ.
God wasn’t just being a drama king when he warned Adam and Eve about the consequences of disobedience. And Jesus wasn’t being overly dramatic when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed,” (John 8:34-36).
Don’t be lulled by Satan into thinking there won’t be consequences for sin. We’re all already paying the price by being subject to the curses, including physical death, placed on Adam and Eve (Genesis 3).
But there’s more.
It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. Hebrews 9:27
Jesus said, “if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins,” (John 8:24). And at the judgment, those who have died in their sins will encounter a “lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death,” (Revelation 21:8).
We all naturally fear death. Not to be dramatic, but the second death is worse. Sin always leads to death and there is no fooling God. The only escape is through faith in Christ.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
by Christie Cole Atkins
Heavenly Father, please help us to resist the schemes of the devil. Increase our faith, Lord, that we may trust in You and live out our faith in obedience to Your word. We know that You are for us, not against us, and that no weapon of the devil can prevail when we obey Your voice. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Related Reading:
Walk Worthy 