Make the Punishment fit the Crime...
In parenting our kids, Steve and I always attempted to “make the punishment fit the crime.” In other words, disobedience with a phone (such as continuing past the time allowed) resulted in the phone being taken. Disobedience with a car, ended with the suspension of driving privileges. I think you can see what I mean.
Anyway, as I came across Psalm 103:10 this morning, I was reminded of something powerful…so powerful, I had to just stop what I was doing and say, “Praise You, Father!”
The verse says, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.”
Wow! How awesome is it that God has not dealt with me based on what I’ve done wrong in my life…that He hasn’t punished me according to my intentional and rebellious sin. God has truly NOT given me what I deserve. He’s not made MY punishment fit MY crime. You see, I deserved DEATH! Yep. I deserved nothing more than eternal separation from God, who is the perfect, holy and righteous Father.
“No, surely not. Surely you weren’t BAD enough to warrant eternal damnation, Belinda.” You wanna bet? Scripture says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. That means no matter what I tried to do before I met Christ, my paycheck – my wage – got me nowhere-near Heaven…quite the opposite. Every day, I earned the punishment of death. Every white lie that was told, every penny that was taken from my mom’s jewelry box to buy bubble gum, every angry word spewed at my siblings, every ugly thought about revenge merely added to the insurmountable “debt” I owed, with no way to repay.
Oh, and that was just my sinful behavior as a kid. We won’t even go into my wages earned as an adult!
So, did I deserve death…eternal separation from a holy God? You better believe it! And I knew it, oh so well.
That’s why Psalm 103:10 makes me sit up and shout, “Whoo-Hoo!” I deserved death, but what I got instead was life! I deserved punishment, but what I received instead was MERCY.
But that mercy wasn’t free. It came at a cost…a great cost. For in order to satisfy that debt we owed, God placed our punishment…our sin…our iniquity…our rebellion…our lies…our angry words…our vengeful thoughts…our stolen pennies on the only One who could “pay the price.”
God placed our punishment on Jesus. And when He did that, God made CHRIST’s punishment fit OUR crime.
Now, because of that, the last part of Romans 6:23 can be said about those of us who have accepted that Jesus took our punishment…those of us who understood that we deserved death but obtained mercy: “but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.”
Do you know what that means? That means no more death…no more punishment…no more eternal damnation…just life! Thank You, Jesus!
WOO-HOO!!!
“Dearest Father, thank You for your unending and gracious mercies. Thank You for not giving me what I deserve. And thank You, Jesus for taking what I deserve, instead. I praise You, Lord.”
