12 December

It's all over the campus. The faculty and staff will receive some hefty surprise bonus for the holidays. It circulated in the department, but nobody seemed to have claimed the said bonus. When asked why, some said they aren't sure whether to claim it from the cashier, or that they are too embarrassed to get it because it might not be there, or it may be some trick the administration is pulling, or they don't really have a need for the extra cash.

Maybe we can do without the extra money, but can we say the same things to why we don't accept Christ's FREE gift? Are we oblivious of the fact that it is free? Are we too embarrassed to admit that we need it? (Just like grown men who have the habit of stepping outside church when the priest starts the homily.) Do we think that there is a catch? That it is too good to be true?

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Romans 6)

The payment for sin is death. Death for prisoners is a way for them to pay their sins. But it already happened when Jesus, the Son of Man, died for us. We have been set free. When we were sinners, we were given love. When we were selfish, we were given grace. "How can we who have been made right not live righteous lives? How can we who have been loved not love? How can we who have been blessed not bless? How can we who have been given grace not live graciously?" This is what Paul was trying to say in Romans 6.

There is no reason to believe that just because God's grace is a free gift, we can do what we want now and later ask for forgiveness. That since there is church on Sunday, we can live on our selfish desires for the rest of the week. God's grace is there before us, teaching us not to live against God, to serve Him which is what we are called to do. So really, why would we want to live otherwise?

¹¹For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹²It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age... (Titus 2)

I remember this one sin that I repeatedly commit and that each time I do so I feel really frustrated, ashamed, and very far from God. I gave up trying to change. I compromised. I spent less time praying because I was too ashamed I felt I didn't have the right. I felt I was stuck in some murky, contaminated, depressing place. Until one day I realized that it had been long since I committed it. It surprised me at first because I thought I wasn't really doing anything, and in fact, I stopped trying to change. Then I found out that it is only by God's grace. The Holy Spirit zoomed in on that area of my life and changed me. I do experience times when I get tempted to do it again but then I would think of the murky, contaminated, and depressing place and say, "I don't ever want to go back." It's stupid if I go back.

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6)

The vow that we make with God should not be too fragile, like a groom flirting with another lady besides his bride. If we are in our right minds, we should know better than to forget our vows and play with fire. We know how God freely gives His grace and what it is like to live with this grace. We can experience a new life. Why in the world wouldn't we accept it?

--J.B.