But I’ve Tried to Live a Good Life

The Wages of Sin Is Death

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Try as we might to live a good life, that is not the criteria the Lord uses to determine where our eternal home will be. Of course, living a good life is what we all want, but living a “good life” will not gain us favor with God. In fact, we will be judged by this good life we have lived and the verdict will not be in our favor.

The Bible says that we must obey the Law perfectly if we are to be judged righteous by our efforts. There is only one man who lived a perfect life – the God/ Man Jesus Christ. This is the standard by which we will be judged if we go our own way in the life that we live. Many have gone this way leaving the Lord out of their lives aside from maybe an occasional acknowledgement of His existence or an hour in a church service on a Sunday. They are deceived in thinking that their good effort of acknowledging God or attending a church service will be enough to gain Heaven. It’s not! They are deceiving themselves by  attempting to live a life pleasing to God without God,

The Bible tells us that we are all sinners prior to coming to the Lord. We are unable, in ourselves, to live a life pleasing to Him. If we do not acknowledge this and realize our great need for a relationship with God then we are defeated already. The days of this life and our natural bent due to the sin nature to go our own way will not end well for us if we continue on this path.

Our introductory verse shows us what we are in ourselves and what we can be in the Lord. We are dead in sins and the so called good life we live in our own way can never be acceptable to the Lord. The wages, what we earn by our own efforts in this life, is death. The last part of this verse shows us the way. First off it is a gift of God that we need. Gifts are not gained by works. The gift is Eternal Life. That is, an eternal home with the Lord in His presence. Well, how do we gain this gift of Eternal Life? Through Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the entry fee in dying on a cruel Cross that the the sin dead we owe might be atoned for.

We come in repentance and faith in Christ and Him crucified. Jesus is our Savior. He saved us from our sin. Notice that the verse ends by acknowledging that Jesus is our Lord. He has paid the price and we are to acknowledge Him as Lord of our lives. The Lord has sent forth His Word. He shows all that travel through this life the two directions we can go. We can work our way or we can accept His gracious free gift. The former results in death; the latter results in an eternity in the presence and blessings of the Lord. We must choose who we will serve in this life the Lord has given us. As Joshua challenged the people of Israel of his time, we are also challenged to “choose you this day who you will serve.” There are no do-overs in this life once death comes. We must decide today whether it will be our way, or God’s way.

“But as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment ” (Hebrews 9:27).