My wife and I enjoyed lunch at an Asian-Mexican fusion place recently. We paired a chips/queso/salsa appetizer with a bowl of ramen and ginger-glazed chicken. The food tasted fabulous, the fusion working to perfection. Our waiter, a young man, stayed attentive and helpful. We left him a generous tip. In my mind he earned a good tip due to his excellent service. On one hand a tip is a gratuity, but on the other a tip rises or falls based on the quality of service. Tips are seldom free gifts.

When I go to work I’m not after a gift, but what I feel I earn. A gift often arrives out of the blue, undeserved and unexpected. To be handed a free gift, one I know I did nothing to warrant, feels both exciting and humbling.

Paul discussed earnings and gifts in his letter to the church in Rome. He summed up his argument with this famous verse: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our ways of life and the inherited nature of our beings lead us to a type of slavery to our sins. Our choices to move away from God earn bitter wages. Eventually our physical death and spiritual death combine—a grievous tip on top of lifetime earnings.

But God offers an alternative. If we choose to reverse our trajectory and turn towards him, to kneel before our Creator, then God offers freedom from the old pay scale. He replaces dark fruits of no value with the gracious gift of life.

God’s gift remains totally free. An abundant, eternal life. A bounty of freedom. Not a wage or a tip based on good service, but an undeserved and unexpected endowment waiting for me and you. Take Jesus as Lord, and the gift is yours.

Romans 3:23

Photo by Sam Dan Truong