"See that my dinner is ready by twelve o'clock," said a man to his wife, as he left for his work one morning, adding, that if it were not ready he would beat her until she could not stand.
She was a Christian; her sins were forgiven; the Lord Jesus was her Savior; heaven her home; so, instead of returning rough words, she hastened to do as her husband had told her; and on his return at ten minutes to twelve dinner was ready and she was reading the Bible. By no means soothed at finding no cause for anger, the man approached as if to strike her, as was too often his custom, but was arrested by the book that lay before her, that had somehow taught his wife gentle words and kind actions, in place of the anger with which she used to meet his harshness. He could only spell a little. His eye caught a verse, and he began to spell it out.
"ar-h-e the, w-a-g-e-s,' what does that spell, Sally?”
"Wages," answered his wife.
"The wages o-f of, s-i-n sin, i-s is, d-e-a-t-h,' another long word, Sally; what does it spell?”
"Death," was the answer.
The words seemed to frighten him, they were very solemn.
"The wages of sin is death,'" he repeated, adding, "If anybody ever earned those wages I have.”
Quietly he ate his dinner and for once bade his wife a kindly "good-bye.”
In the evening he returned sober, and exclaimed, on entering his cottage, "Those terrible wages! Sally, is the book full of the dark side?”
"O, no, Tom!" said Sally; "there is a bright side as well as a dark one. Just let me read the end of the verse: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).
Earnestly she told him of the love of God; of the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross; how He died for sinners, and that the vilest who came, He would not cast out.
He listened eagerly, the tears ran down his cheeks, and when she had finished, he cried, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
God worked in his soul; he felt he was a sinner; he trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, and was saved.
Reader, if unsaved, you have been earning the wages of sin. Have you ever thought what those wages are?
"The wages of sin is death" (eternal death).
If you have found out that you are a sinner, lost in God's sight, there is salvation for you, too, for, "God commandeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8).