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Have you ever gotten a blank, signed check on payday? I haven’t, but it would be nice to write your own check, wouldn’t it? On my paychecks, and probably on yours, the amount is already filled in. But we still look forward to each payday. That’s because we count on our paycheck to pay our debts, or to pay for a house, a car, food, clothes, and many other things. For many of us, it seems there’s “too much month at the end of the money,” but sometimes we might have some money left over to put away for the future.

We work all week, or even all month, to get our paycheck. Then we are paid what we have earned, or according to the contract we have negotiated. But wouldn’t it be nice to get a big check and not even have to work for it? It’s possible! But, it’s also possible to get a paycheck that we wouldn’t want to have.

A check that we wouldn’t want? Yes, there are wages that I think none of us would like to earn if we had a choice—“the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Have you ever thought about the end result of your sin? God says that for sinning, we earn wages, and the payment of those wages is not in money, but death. No one is exempt from these wages, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Is death then the end? No, it is not. God’s Word says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). For those who are not saved, this will be the payday of God’s holy wrath. The payment will be everlasting punishment in hell, “the fire that shall never be quenched” (Mark 9:43).

How can we avoid the wages of death and judgment? We might think that since our sins have earned us death, our good deeds can earn us eternal life. They can’t. Because of our fallen, sinful nature, even “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” in God’s eyes (Isaiah 64:6). No matter how hard we work, or how hard we try, we cannot do anything to earn God’s forgiveness for even one sin.

Remember the check I mentioned before that we don’t have to work for? God has written such a check. It can pay for your salvation. It is not a blank check, though. It is already made out for a priceless amount—the price of your soul. But don’t worry about this check bouncing, because it is paid out of the endless riches of God’s love and grace. This check is written with the blood of Christ, and signed by the Heavenly Father. It is dated for today, because “now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

All that you must do is put your name on God’s check. How do you do that? You need to admit that you are a sinner, and that your sin has produced a debt that you cannot pay. You need to confess your sins to God, and believe that Jesus Christ paid for your sins by dying on the cross and rising again.

When you trust Him as your personal Savior you can put your name in this verse: “For God so loved __________ that He gave His only begotten Son, that __________ believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

When you come to Jesus as a sinner, and by faith put your name on God’s check of eternal salvation, you can be assured that you are His, and that you will miss the payday of judgment that awaits all those who have not trusted Christ.

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

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