For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Hebrews 9:15
I remember it like it was yesterday. I had been hired by a large insurance company to write software right out of school. I don’t even think the subject of how much I would get paid ever came up. I didn’t care. I couldn’t be happier.
And while it was all new, it was like I sort of grew up overnight. Every morning I had someplace to go. I had to shave and dress up like I was going to church, putting on at least a tie and sportscoat. Then I walked down to the bus stop with all the other people going to work. In downtown Baltimore, there was a building that had a desk in it that was mine. Just for me.
I made new friends who were real adults. You know the type – they had houses and new cars. They wore suits that were worth more than my car. They were married and had kids my age or older. And while my title sounded a bit weird, Junior Terminal Programmer Trainee, I was 19 and I had arrived.
On that first Friday, my boss came around and handed me an envelope. I didn’t know what it was, so I quickly opened it and my head almost popped off. My first paycheck. While I didn’t scream, I felt like Tom Hanks in the movie Big[1] when he got his first paycheck.
Now, I hadn’t finished any programs. Heck, I hadn’t even written one line of code yet. Mostly what I did that week was to read and learn a new programming language. I took my first ever coffee break and learned where the cafeteria was. That was about it. I showed up and then got paid.
Getting paid is part of an agreement. A contract. Or to use another term, a covenant. The employee shows up and does what they’re told, and the employer keeps their promise and pays them.
Whether we believe this or nor, people always earn what their paid. We can think that they’re an overpaid CEO who’s making 344 times an average worker[2]. Or we can believe that we’re really underpaid and overlooked for all the good work that we do. In either case, people get paid for what they do.
This works fine here on earth. Sort of. When we get paid for something we do, then our relationship is based on what we do. Our boss doesn’t just pay us because they like us. No, our relationship depends on what we do. How much we accomplish. How well the company is doing.
And while this is OK with our boss, it just won’t work with our relationship with God. If his loving us depends on all the good stuff we do, then we’re in big trouble. We’re always, always, always going to fall short. Fail. Mess things up between us and the one who made and loves us. We’re going to be breaking our relationships with one another too.
Remember, God is totally good and holy[3]. There’s nothing he needs. He didn’t make people because he was lonely or needed something to do. Not on your life. He made us to love us. To share himself with us. To show himself to us each and every minute for all eternity.
But when we broke that relationship[4], all the promises of God were lost. We left everything he had in store for us and gave it up for fake news from the ultimate enemy. We abandoned the gifts and freedom of being his child for the chains of an empty and false slavery.
There was no way to earn our way back. We didn’t need payment. What we needed was a promise. God’s promise that he was going to make a way back to him. But not with stuff that we were going to do. But through what he was going to do for us and then give to us as a gift.
The writer to the Hebrews calls it the promised eternal inheritance. There’s not a paycheck anywhere in sight when it comes to Jesus. He paid it all. He’s the one and only mediator who fills in the gap between us and God. He restores everything. He brings us back from the dead.
I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die
John 11:25
You’ll notice that there’s not one word about paying God anything in this promise from Jesus. We’re not made alive again as a paycheck for what we’ve done but because we believe. We accept what he’s already done. No paycheck, just loving acceptance.
Noodling Questions
What is it about getting paid that excites us so?
How is our relationship with God not like him being our boss?
Describe how God’s acceptance changes the way you experience life.
[2] Economic Policy Institute, https://www.epi.org/
[3] Isaiah 6:3
[4] Genesis 3:7-24
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