The Wages of Sin

I'm writing this as my family gets ready to bury my dad. He passed away last week in the hospital trying to overcome several complications such as pneumonia, old age, etc. The pastor faithfully visited him as time permitted and dad appreciated his visits. I saw him almost every day the past two weeks of his life and was with him only a couple of hours before his death.

He was one of two boys in his family born during the depression; in our part of the country it seems that during those early years of the past century the depression had no beginning or end. His grandfather, my great-grandfather, was an immigrant from Switzerland arriving in the U.S.A. in the 1880's and purchased homesteading acreage and moved into our area about 1892. The land consisted of swamp and stumps although the land sales brochure showed rich farmland with mature trees ready to be harvested (not unlike today's land sellers eh?). My grandfather and my father were born into the hardships of trying to grub a farm out of those 160 acres. My grandfather was successful in farming the original homestead plus another 160 acres and handmilked over 30 cows. The work ethic of my great-grandfather, grandfather, and father have been passed down to me and I observe it in my children. Back then they called them hard working men. Today they call us "workaholics". We're only trying to provide for our families and do the best job possible as did he.

When dad died the hospital staff allowed his body to remain in the room for any of the family to view prior to its removal to the funeral home. As I sat in the room with his body in the bed the text from Romans 6:23 repeated itself in my mind, "The wages of sin is death.....". Not only that doctrinal truth dealing with spiritual death but the death of the body.

I recall reading an article by a medical doctor (it may have been Dr. Lloyd-Jones) who commented that on every death certificate is an area that the medical staff complete indicating the cause of death of the deceased. The doctor stated that every death certificate should indicate the three letters S. I. N. - for the wages of sin is death. If it wasn't for sin we would not only not die physically but would have remained perfectly suited to commune and walk with God as Adam did. But for reasons I don't comprehend (but I know is for the ultimate Glory of God) Adam did sin and we reap the tragedy of his disobedience - death. Yes, the wages of sin is death....but finish the Word from God, the text says "BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". There is hope IN HIM.

My dad wasn't a great talker. He loved creation; the woods, deer, bear, etc. Later on in life he missed his walks in the woods. The majority of his life was spent in the outdoors. He had habits and vices that by the Grace of God and His Divine Intervention was stripped from me. I don't know his eternal state. But for all that I loved him for who he was - my father and one of the last patriarch's of the area. I appreciate how God used him to enrich my life and give me the work ethic that God uses for the building up of His Church.

I'm already missing him.