Romans 6:22-23
But now that you’ve found you don’t
have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the
delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole,
healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the
way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But
God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
There has been a lot of talk
in our country lately about wages. Presently, the federal minimum wage
is $7.25 per hour. In my home state (Arkansas), the minimum wage is
$7.50 per hour. A bill in Congress to increase federal minimum wage to
$10 per hour over a three-year period has been stymied, while some
companies – like Walmart, Starbucks, T.J. Maxx, Whole Foods, and Costco –
have gone ahead and raised their company’s minimum wage (though not all
to $10…Walmart went up to $9/hour).
Lest anyone think this is
“good return” for the work, consider that “minimum wage” and a “living
wage” are not at all the same thing. According to information found at http://livingwage.mit.edu/,
a living wage reflects the amount required for persons to meet a
minimum standard of living…buy food, clothing, shelter, medical care,
child care, transportation, and other basic necessities…and this amount
varies across the country, depending on location and the “cost of
living” there.
Far too often, the “prevailing wage” is nowhere
near what can be considered a “living wage”. So not only does quality
of life suffer on a daily basis…but there is no hope of any light at the
end of the tunnel. Certainly these hardworking folks do not have any
grandiose notions of a cushy retirement someday – or visions of
“retirement” at all You hear a lot of people say, “I’ll work until the
day I die.” And for many, this is their reality!
This is a
serious problem in our country that needs to be addressed. But even more
importantly, we need to consider the “wages” for our spiritual life.
I’ve heard this passage, “The wages of sin is death” all of my life…but I
never considered them literally before today. It never really occurred
to me that we are “working” for “wages”…that we are either “employed”
in the business of sin – or that of serving the LORD. And there is a
rate of “pay” for both.
For sinful living, the wages might seem quite fair - or even generous, at times…while those who are living
Godly, faith-filled lives of service to Jesus might seem to be
struggling to make ends meet. Think “Why do bad things happen to good
people?” and you will see what I mean. A lot of rotten sinners seem to
skate by on “Easy Street!” Or do they?
Unlike the disparity that
exists in our natural lives between “minimum wage” and “living
wage”…the tables are often turned in the Spiritual sense. Those who
give their hearts to Jesus and diligently work to listen to God and live
according to His will can claim a “living wage” with a generous
“retirement plan.” Those who operate in sin may seem to have it all…but
honestly, they are scraping by at best - and they will have nothing to
show for their lives in the end except misery and heartache.
I
have known some pretty “poor” people who were far richer than the
wealthiest mega-millionaires of this world, because their “living wage”
came from Jesus Christ. In this regard, I want to be “rich,” too…don’t
you? I believe we must continue to argue for decent “living wages” for
families and individuals across this great nation…but we must be even
more aggressive in our attempts to grow in “wealth” that matters for all
Eternity.
You may be “workin’ hard for a livin’” on this
earth…but are you working harder for a life in Christ? What sort of
“retirement plan” do you have in place? Are you ready to make a “living
wage” with benefits and bonuses? Will this be the day that you begin?
©2015 Debbie Robus
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