Saturday, January 10 The gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.​—Rom. 6:23.

[Anniebea]

Saturday, January 10

The gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.—Rom. 6:23.

 

Our original parents, Adam and Eve, were perfect and lived in a beautiful paradise. (Gen. 1:27; 2:7-9) They had the prospect of enjoying a rich, endless life. But then everything changed. They lost their Paradise home as well as their prospect of everlasting life. What inheritance could they pass on to their future children? The Bible tells us: “Through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Rom. 5:12) The inheritance Adam passed on to us is sin, resulting in death. This inherited sin is like a huge debt, one that none of us can pay off. (Ps. 49:8) Jesus likened sins to “debts.” (Matt. 6:12; Luke 11:4) When we sin, it is as if we incur a debt to Jehovah. We have to pay the penalty for the sin. Should this debt be left unpaid, it would be canceled only when we die.—Rom. 6:7. w25.02 2-3 ¶2-3

[dljbsp]

Watching my wife’s faith in Jehovah’s gift has always moved me. Her health hasn’t been the best, and she lost her mom more than twenty years ago. Yet her hope has never faded. She talks about seeing her again with such certainty — not as a wish, but as something she knows will happen.

 

That confidence comes from knowing Jehovah keeps His promises. He is not vague or uncertain. He tells us plainly that there will be a resurrection, and that those we have lost are not gone forever (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15). When my wife speaks about the future, you can hear how real that hope is to her.

 

What strengthens that hope even more is knowing it rests on the ransom. Everlasting life is a gift Jehovah gives through Christ Jesus, not something we earn or deserve (Romans 6:23). Because of that gift, the promises apply not just to one person, but to all those we love and long to see again (Revelation 21:3, 4).

 

Seeing her faith reminds me that trusting Jehovah is never misplaced. What He has promised will benefit not only those waiting to see loved ones again, but all who put their confidence in Him.