READ: ROMANS 6:15-23; GALATIANS 6:7-8; COLOSSIANS 1:22

As the end of the semester loomed, I scrambled to improve my grade. But I’d waited too long to turn things around in this class, and I would simply receive the grade on my report card I had earned.

My seventh grade English teacher, Ms. Tyson, taught our class with a stern focus on correct grammar and punctuation. Some of my test scores reflected that I hadn’t learned as much about grammar and punctuation as she demanded. When I realized I wouldn’t get the grade I wanted, I shyly approached Ms. Tyson to request extra credit work to pull up my semester grade. She brusquely answered, “No.”

Ms. Tyson had no obligation to give me an extra chance. She hadn’t been unfair. After all, even though I felt disappointed, my report card revealed exactly what my work in that class had earned.

We earn grades for the efforts we make (or fail to make) in school. Similarly, the Bible talks about what we earn for our choices in life. Scripture tells us that our sin earns death. This death—eternal separation from God—is what we deserve because of all our thoughts, words, and actions that violate God’s good ways. But, unlike with Ms. Tyson, we have another opportunity. In our relationship with God, we aren’t doomed to receive simply what we’ve earned.

Romans 6:23 informs us that God’s gift is eternal life through Jesus. When we trust in Him as the payment for the punishment we deserve, we don’t simply receive “extra credit” to improve our grade in life. We receive a complete replacement of our sinful failure with Christ’s holy excellence. Christ’s perfection covers our failings, bringing us into right relationship with God—not because of our good “grades” but because of His great love. • Allison Wilson Lee

• Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we don’t have to “measure up” in God’seyes with good deeds or obedience—and we couldn’t even if we tried! Instead, Jesus is the one who measured up in our place through His sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead. Through Jesus, God generously gives us eternal life, along with countless blessings—none of which we could earn! How is God’s way of grace different from the way the world operates?

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