The Eternal Gift ~

Guest Post by Deb Potts

His Word:  “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:22-23

Observation & Obedience: Why, oh why is it so difficult to make the switch from our life before Christ to our life after Christ? Down through the ages people who follow Christ have felt the same frustration.
Paul himself went on in Chapter 7 of Romans to put it this way, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” It should be crystal clear to all of us, and admittedly it is, at least in black and white. 

Life before Christ = death. Life after Christ = eternal life. Who in their right mind would chose the first? Should be a done deal, right? 

I recently found an app called Answers: YesNo. It’s a simple app for helping handicapped children communicate. There are two buttons which can be customized. For example one may say “yes” and one “no.” They can even be programmed to have voices associated with each so that visually impaired children can use the app. I saw a similar device on You Tube being used by a severely handicapped 2 year old with Cerebral Palsy. She used it to answer a question: Yes or No. So simple even a low functioning child can use it. Yes or No. On or Off.

Wouldn’t it be great if at the point of salvation God installed an off/on switch on our foreheads? We could simply flip the switch and instantly our righteousness would be going full steam ahead. Every once in a while if we were disobedient and the switch was tripped, we could simply flip it back on. 

Maybe I’ll have to talk to God about that brilliant idea when I get to heaven. But wait…maybe He already considered that idea and rejected it. Maybe there’s a benefit to our learning obedience. 

Our role model, Jesus Christ, had to learn obedience. He struggled, not with sin, but with human emotions. In the Garden as He prayed He sweated drops of blood out of His angst at what was to come. 

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be a high priest in the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:7-10 NIV).

Amazing as it sounds, Jesus had to learn obedience. He was sinless, but He did have a complete human body, including a limbic system and hormones that caused Him to feel emotions. He felt every human emotion we feel, but without sin. He had to learn to control those emotions.

Our emotions frequently cause us to slide into sin. Fear, anger, pride, worry and guilt all can cause us to become disobedient. If we follow Jesus’ example, we can gradually grow to ignore our sinful tendencies and turn off those sinful voices in our heads. Through godly discipline we can learn to be obedient to God’s voice instead. 

The process of discipline Jesus experienced qualified Him to become the “source of eternal salvation.” Could it be that our process of discipline qualifies us to be witnesses of the gift of salvation? Just imagine if every Christian were completely perfect, incapable of sin. Those outside of Christ would never be able to relate to us, they would have a difficult time picturing how they could ever measure up. Perhaps the process of spiritual growth is not just for our benefit but for the benefit of others as well.

All God asks is that we be genuine and real, desiring to do good. When we fall – and trust me, we will – all He asks is that we get up, dust ourselves off, and try again. Look again at our verse: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22 NIV). 

The journey to obedience is a process, leading to holiness. We won’t get to our destination until we acquire eternal life. On this earth at least, it’s about the journey.

Prayer: Abba, crank up my hearing aids to listen and obey Your small, still voice. I know Your way leads to abundance, healing, and real life. I truly want to stick to the trail You’re leading me on. But I know I will fall off the path. When I do, give me the courage to confess, the obedience to repent, and the perseverance to get back up and keep going. Amen

Encouragement:  “His basic message is meant to put steel in their backbone and to encourage them to run the race and seek the prize of Heaven. He comes to remind them that they have an enemy who seeks to destroy them.” John Bunyan

Written by Deb Potts