W K Tweedie
Romans 6:23. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How earnest is the God of the Bible that sinners should be assured that all we enjoy is a gift from Him! Man is constantly claiming; God as constantly sets that claim aside and offers all as a gift. Is it received? Then God is glorified, and self-ruined man is laid in the dust. Eternal life is a gift.
1Taken, with editing, from Tweedie’s volume, Glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace.
Faith is a gift. The Holy Spirit is a gift. The Saviour is God’s unspeakable gift. The privilege of suffering for His sake is a gift. Mercy is a gift. Peace is a gift. Pardon at last, as well as all that fits us to enjoy it, is a gift. And by the constant repetition of that truth, the pride of the self-righteous soul is reproved; the claims of men for God’s favour are disowned; they must submit to be saved by grace or never be saved at all.
Now, when the soul clearly discerns that truth, it begins to be happy for the first time. As long as the idea of merit, or deserving the favour of God, haunts the soul, it is wretched and harassed by legal fear. It never can be sure that it has done enough or repented enough or suffered enough. But when the gift of God is received – when man perceives that the only thing he can deserve, and the only wages he can earn, is death – pride is hidden from him, and he begins to rejoice in the unspeakable gift. Rejoice then, my soul, that eternal life is to be obtained for the taking.
God offers. Do you welcome? Christ has purchased; grace bestows. Are you waiting to receive? Then go in peace, your faith has made you whole. The second death has no more power over you; the original curse is repealed, or rather it is exhausted by the Saviour for you; and your blessedness, now and for ever, should be to rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in yourself.
How strange if the world was to continue in darkness after the sun has risen! How strange if the earth was to continue frozen and the forests leafless, after the warm sun of spring and summer bids them put on their beauty! And can it be less strange for the soul, visited, redeemed and saved by the Son of God, to walk only in sackcloth – in the gloom of Sinai, not the sunshine of Zion?