But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:22-23, NKJV
This morning I accepted an appointment from my optometrist’s office. My acceptance was in the form of a website registration to get my name in the appointment book. It was the reservation for a much-coveted time slot with the physician. This schedule is golden. There are often no vacancies available in the appointment schedule. There are even days of the week when the doctors do not come in for appointments. Those appointments are valuable, and I did not want to miss mine. So, after completing the registration I hurriedly went to my computer calendar to enter the appointment to ensure that I would get in to see the optometrist. My fingers raced across the keys to get that appointment solidified. It was as if I didn’t do this, I would lose the appointment.
Interestingly, as my eyes finally fell on the appointment square on the calendar, I was surprised to find that the appointment had been entered already. It was entered automatically from the source when I accepted the invitation. There was no need for me to do anything other than simply accept the invitation for the appointment.
It took only a brief moment for me to reflect on the significance of this little scenario. Is it not just like us to feel that we have some task to complete to secure our appointment with Jesus even after He has reserved our place with Him on that special day? He extended the invitation. My reservation was confirmed and registered automatically in the book of life when I accepted His invitation. It is human nature to feel that if it is too good to be true, it cannot be true. But when it comes to the free gift of salvation, it really is that good, and there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation—our reservation for eternal life.
Ella Smith Simmons was a Vice-President at the General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church until her retirement in 2022. She was the first woman in this position.
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