wages and gifts

One of the things I talk about a lot at work is what to pay people. I sit in on a lot of meetings about what our pay scale should look like. Are we competitive with the regional manufacturers we compete against for workers? What jobs should be worth more than other jobs? How much does night shift get more than day shift?

And then we hire people pretty much weekly. We decide whether to hire them at our starting wage, or whether maybe their experience or qualifications justify a higher rate. Sometimes neither is true but we need them, and they have other options that pay more.

What are we worth? What do we deserve? Paul has a discouraging answer, in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If, as at work, I deserve what my actions are worth, then hell should be in my future. I’m a sinner, and much as I want to, I can’t seem to shake it. On the spiritual pay scale, that means my pay is death.

But the other thing I get to do a lot at work is give stuff away. We give bonuses, and have a company incentive plan. I approve rewards for good work – things like gift cards and jackets and nights away. Those are a lot more fun, even if numerically they’re considerably smaller.

That’s reversed in the second half of Paul’s verse above. God has a gift for me that’s breath-taking in significance: eternal life. In God’s pay structure, wages are a big negative but the bonus plan is heavenly. And the bonuses come courtesy of Jesus, whose spiritual bank account with God is so high he couldn’t possibly spend it all, not on me or all of humanity.

Wages are what I deserve. This gift is what God chooses to give me. I’m immensely grateful once again for his grace.