I hope you all had a great weekend. Both my husband and I have caught bad colds and we could not enjoy the fist nice day of spring. Ok so lets get to the message.
Wages
(Prov 10:16 TNIV) The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.
In this text Solomon contrasts the “wages” of the righteous with those of the wicked. Webster’s dictionary definition of wages is: a payment usually of money for labor or services. Interestingly enough, Webster also lists the words, recompense and reward under wages and provides Romans 6:23 as a reference.
In Romans 6:23 Paul said, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Noah Webster provides us two references. One is a common reference, and it deals with financial earnings. The other is an uncommon (in today’s society) reference, and it deals with life earnings; the eternal rewards that we earn (good or bad) for the things that we do in the earth.
I meet people all the time who fail to understand the significance of their actions. If something good happens, they thank God. If something bad happens, they blame God. Either way, they see God as the reason behind everything that happens to them, their family members, their children, and etc. They might show up late for work, on a regular basis, and wind up getting fired. Instead of taking responsibility for their actions, they say things like, “How could God let this happen to me?”
They eat the wrong foods, live a sedimentary lifestyle, they practice sin regularly, and when they get sick (in their body and their soul), they say things like, “If God loved me, He would not have done this to me.” People that live this way don’t understand the word “wages” in our text. They clearly understand what it means when it is payday – expecting full compensation from their employer – but they fail to understand the spiritual significance of what they do (or fail to do) on a daily basis.
In one sense, grace is God giving you what you do not deserve. Mercy is God not giving you what you do deserve. I thank God for grace and mercy and you should too. It is only because of God’s goodness that He continues to give us what we do not deserve and holds back what we really do deserve, but we should not live our lives based solely upon grace and mercy. You can fail to live the life that God expects for you to live and still come to God in prayer. Will He answer your prayer? He might or He might not.
God is a good God and He might do what you ask, just out of His goodness, but is that really how you want to live? Do you want to live every day depending on grace and mercy alone? I hope not. Solomon tells us this morning that the wages (the reward) for living a righteous life is LIFE – the God type of life. This is the life that God desires for you to live. Think of it this way: when you live the life God intends for you to live, it opens the door to the Good life (His type of life). However, the earnings of the wicked are sin and death. When you choose to ignore God’s counsel and you willingly live a life contrary to God, it opens the door to sin and death. Is that what you want? Do you want to earn your way to destruction?
So what does this mean to you? It means that your actions matter; that every cause has an effect. What you do today will be worthy of wages. You can either earn goodness or you can earn destruction. Life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect. and not luck what will your actions cause today? Will they cause life or death, blessing or cursing, goodness or destruction? Remember, the choice is yours. God is watching and He will cause you to reap whatever you sow.
Father, I thank You for giving me the right to choose, for blessing me to be a free morale agent, and for having enough confidence in me to enable me to make my own decisions. I know that I will reap whatever I sow. Therefore, I declare, by faith, that I choose life and not death, blessing and not cursing, goodness and not destruction. My actions today will open the door to Your best in my life. I refrain from sin and death. I live a life of righteousness, love, joy, and peace. Be glorified in me today, Father. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
Wages
(Prov 10:16 TNIV) The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.
In this text Solomon contrasts the “wages” of the righteous with those of the wicked. Webster’s dictionary definition of wages is: a payment usually of money for labor or services. Interestingly enough, Webster also lists the words, recompense and reward under wages and provides Romans 6:23 as a reference.
In Romans 6:23 Paul said, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Noah Webster provides us two references. One is a common reference, and it deals with financial earnings. The other is an uncommon (in today’s society) reference, and it deals with life earnings; the eternal rewards that we earn (good or bad) for the things that we do in the earth.
I meet people all the time who fail to understand the significance of their actions. If something good happens, they thank God. If something bad happens, they blame God. Either way, they see God as the reason behind everything that happens to them, their family members, their children, and etc. They might show up late for work, on a regular basis, and wind up getting fired. Instead of taking responsibility for their actions, they say things like, “How could God let this happen to me?”
They eat the wrong foods, live a sedimentary lifestyle, they practice sin regularly, and when they get sick (in their body and their soul), they say things like, “If God loved me, He would not have done this to me.” People that live this way don’t understand the word “wages” in our text. They clearly understand what it means when it is payday – expecting full compensation from their employer – but they fail to understand the spiritual significance of what they do (or fail to do) on a daily basis.
In one sense, grace is God giving you what you do not deserve. Mercy is God not giving you what you do deserve. I thank God for grace and mercy and you should too. It is only because of God’s goodness that He continues to give us what we do not deserve and holds back what we really do deserve, but we should not live our lives based solely upon grace and mercy. You can fail to live the life that God expects for you to live and still come to God in prayer. Will He answer your prayer? He might or He might not.
God is a good God and He might do what you ask, just out of His goodness, but is that really how you want to live? Do you want to live every day depending on grace and mercy alone? I hope not. Solomon tells us this morning that the wages (the reward) for living a righteous life is LIFE – the God type of life. This is the life that God desires for you to live. Think of it this way: when you live the life God intends for you to live, it opens the door to the Good life (His type of life). However, the earnings of the wicked are sin and death. When you choose to ignore God’s counsel and you willingly live a life contrary to God, it opens the door to sin and death. Is that what you want? Do you want to earn your way to destruction?
So what does this mean to you? It means that your actions matter; that every cause has an effect. What you do today will be worthy of wages. You can either earn goodness or you can earn destruction. Life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect. and not luck what will your actions cause today? Will they cause life or death, blessing or cursing, goodness or destruction? Remember, the choice is yours. God is watching and He will cause you to reap whatever you sow.
Father, I thank You for giving me the right to choose, for blessing me to be a free morale agent, and for having enough confidence in me to enable me to make my own decisions. I know that I will reap whatever I sow. Therefore, I declare, by faith, that I choose life and not death, blessing and not cursing, goodness and not destruction. My actions today will open the door to Your best in my life. I refrain from sin and death. I live a life of righteousness, love, joy, and peace. Be glorified in me today, Father. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
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