Day 12: The Headline

Romans 6:5-23

What might make you uncomfortable:

Many Christians avoid sharing their faith because they feel that describing God's love is too complicated. Today we learn an easy method of sharing the good news of Jesus.

Today's Devotional:

In the golden age of newspapers, salesmen would run through the streets of big cities declaring the headlines of the most recent story. What if we could communicate God's love in a similar way? Is there a simple, one-line phrase that could communicate the Gospel?

Today's reading continues some of the same themes addressed yesterday in the devotional titled "The Grateful Dead." Rather than exploring this topic further, we are going to focus on one verse. You might even say that this is a "Headline" verse. It's a simple sentence that could be a headline in a magazine or newspaper.

Here it is:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

This verse simply communicates what Jesus came to do by sharing the bad news regarding sin and the good news regarding salvation. Let's break it down:

First, the bad news.

• WAGE - When you go to work, you earn something. We call it a wage. A wage is something you earn for something you did.
• SIN - Sin is a theological word. It's origins are in a Greek word, AMARTIA, used to mean "miss the mark." Whenever we miss the mark of God's standard.
• DEATH - Death is the wage for our sin. When we sin there is a consequence - death. Death means eternal separation from God in hell. We have all sinned willfully and missed the mark of God's holiness.

Now, the good news...

• GIFT - A gift is different than a wage. A wage you earn, but a gift is free.
• GOD - God's holiness is the opposite of sin. God is totally Holy.
• ETERNAL LIFE - Although we deserve the wage of death because of sin...God has better plans. He wants to give us a free Gift - Eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We can't work for this eternal life...it's free! Eternal life means living in Heaven with God after we die. It means experiencing God's presence in the here-and-now.
  

What we must do to respond:

• CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD: To respond to this good news, we simply make Christ Jesus our Lord. Praying to Him, asking forgiveness, and believing in the cross & resurrection make a way for us to receive the free gift of eternal life. This is good news!

What a simple and powerful way to communicate the message of the Gospel. Many believers have found this to be a helpful verse to put to memory as they share Jesus with others.

Application

How could we continue to read this devotional about the good news and not share it? Tell a new person today what Jesus has done for them!