“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” We all know that, in this world and in this life, we are not just given everything we want. We need to work. We need to labour. We need to earn our living. The more we work, the more we earn, the better our life can become. This is not always true, but our society certainly associates hard work with success. From God’s perspective, however, things are very different. Every religion in the world says to work. “Pray this many prayers… give this much money… stop those bad habits… go to the place of worship this many times…” Work, work, work, and in the end, there is absolutely no guarantee that your work will result in success. The best any religion can offer you when it comes time to die, is “I hope you were good enough.” In the end, hope is not enough. You need to know where your soul will be forever.
If you haven’t been working, but have just been living your life as you please, you need to know that your unrighteousness bars you from the kingdom of God. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
But if you’ve been working – perhaps for years – to somehow, some way, accumulate enough good in your “divine bank account” so you can secure a blissful afterlife, the Bible has some shocking words to say. “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5). The verse above, which you may have seen on a bus sign or shelter somewhere in the city you live in, tells us precisely what we have earned. The wages of sin is death. We have earned death – separation from God forever – by sinning. We deserve to be punished for our sin, whether it’s the lies that we overlook, or the hatred in our heart that we justify, or the lustful looks that we say are “just natural”. Yes, we sin by nature, for by nature we are sinners. We deserve punishment.
However, God is offering a way out. It’s not through working, or trying, or any effort on our part. The verse above says it clearly, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” No price tag that we have to pay – it was paid by the blood of Christ. No effort that we can make – every necessary effort was made by the Lord Jesus. Everything we have earned is death; but by faith in the Lord Jesus, the eternal life that he has earned through his sinlessness can be given to you for free. Gifts are not earned, they’re given. God gave his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for sinners to be saved from punishment. If you take the gift for yourself, through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, God will save you.