The Meaning of the Cross, Day 21

Welcome to the fifth week and Day 21 of our series, The Meaning of the Cross. Each day we’ve taken a few minutes to look at a word which will help us better understand the meaning of the cross. Today’s word is wage. 

Now, this might seem to be an odd word to relate to Jesus’ death on the cross. But we’ve talked about this word a few times already because of an important Scripture verse to know when it comes to understanding what God has done for us. That verse is Romans 6:23, and that verse starts out with, “For the wages of sin is death…”
 

Think about the word “wage” for a minute. We think about a wage as something we earn, right? We think about the minimum wage, which is the smallest wage a person can earn per hour in our state. Here, where I am in Minnesota, the wages of minimum wage work, as of 1/1/24, is $10.85 per hour for (large business) employers and $8.85 for (smaller business) employees. Your wage is what you’ve earned. If you worked an hour, or a day, or a week, your pay is your wage. It is what is legally due to you. 

Romans 6:23 says that the “wages of sin is death.” Our sin has earned death. Death is the wage we earn because of our sin. It is the legal and righteous cost of our sin. Sin has done it’s work and that sin leads to death. Not just physical death, but a spiritual death which will separate us from God, from all that is good and joyous, for all eternity. And that sin was present in all of our hearts. The wage of that sin is steep, and all of humankind was set to pay it.
 

But Romans 6:23 continues. It says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Instead of paying the wage of eternal death, we are given the free gift of eternal life in Christ! That’s fantastic - but the legal and righteous cost of our sin is still death, so how did God give us this free gift of life? 

It is because God paid the wage of sin for us. The wage of sin is still binding, it is still death, but God paid that wage through the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus’ death paid the wage for our sin. And now forgiveness for that sin is available to all who will repent of their sin and follow after Jesus. God demonstrated His love for us by paying the wage of sin and giving us the gift of eternal life. (We’ll talk more about the word, “demonstration,” tomorrow.) 

After we pray today, please take some time to meditate on how Jesus paid the wages for our sin on the cross. 

Heavenly Father, words and time cannot fully express our thanks to You for paying the wages for our sin. Help us to show our thanks by accepting Your gift of life and following You. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, who paid those wages on the cross, amen. 

Thanks for listening/reading today. Continued tomorrow