Eternal Life

Romans 2: 6-11

⁶ He will repay according to each one’s deeds: ⁷ to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life, ⁸ while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but injustice, there will be wrath and fury. ⁹ There will be affliction and distress for everyone who does evil, both the Jew first and the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, both the Jew first and the Greek. ¹¹ For God shows no partiality.

In 1981, Harold Kushner wrote a very famous book entitled “Why Bad Things Happen to Good People.” This book instantly became a best seller because it tried to make sense of suffering and the difficult things of this world. Many of us crave answers to these difficult questions as life often does not feel or seem fair. When I was a child, fairness was a big thing. No matter what the situation we were taught to try to make situations as fair as possible whether it was the size of a slice of cake, sharing the work of chores, or even the time we got controlling the remote. As I aged, the part of being an adult that is often difficult to swallow is how incredibly unfair the world can be. Some people have so much and others have so little. Some have good things happen to them while others are plagued with hit after hit of hard and difficult.

In this passage, Paul is speaking a bit about what life is all about and how we should try in all that we do to do good for the sake of goodness. Not being of a reward, but we should strive to be good because that is what God wants from us. Goodness should not come from what we gain by being good but because it is the right thing to do and the life that God calls us to lead.

Prayer

God of all Good, you call us toward a life of kindness and truth. While this world is not always a fair place, you call us to make good choices to honor you and love one another. Help us to seek goodness in all that we do. In Jesus name, Amen.